Everyone tells founders to get a mentor, so I tried properly. I used one of the mentor-matching platforms, had one useful call and then the person stopped replying. That was not a one-off. A lot of people there never reply, and of the ones who do, some profiles look fake and others are mainly there to sell you their agency.
Reaching out directly was not much better. Two advisors cancelled the intro call once they heard we are bootstrapped rather than venture funded, because their real service costs tens of thousands, not hundreds. Another sells a course for $10K, advertises large growth, but in reality there is no guarantee.
