Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2012

If you are an entrepreneur for the first time, or entering a new business area, it’s usually worth your time to assemble an Advisory Board of two or three executives who have travelled that road before. Here are some tips on using your advisory board effectively: Select people who complement your experience.

Advisory Board 233

Advisory Board Stock Options Startup Stock 233

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2022

Investors want board seats and a vote on key decisions. But I suggest that a small advisory board with the right people might give you better guidance (no near-term financial bias), and you can always choose to ignore it if your insights are strong. Pre-defined milestones and deadlines in an uncertain world.

Cost 267

Cost Bootstrapping Advisory Board Startup 267

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

That’s the function of a good advisory board. Thus I believe every smart investor, potential partner, or critical new hire will look for a properly built advisory board as a key criteria before selection or making a commitment. Keep the advisory board to a manageable size.

Advisory Board 308

Advisory Board Angel Investor Startup Later Stage 308

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

If you can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Member of the Advisory Board. Every young entrepreneur needs an experienced partner for credibility with investors, and as a trusted cohort for strategy and growth discussions. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from peers, your advisory board, and outside experts and mentors. Don’t try to carry all the weight on your own shoulders, as team members are likely closer to the customer, and my have some real insights. Good business leaders collaborate on tough decisions.

Advisory Board 317

Advisory Board Leadership Customer Developer 317

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2010

If you are an entrepreneur for the first time, or entering a new business area, it’s usually worth your time to assemble an Advisory Board of two or three executives who have travelled that road before. Here are some tips on using your advisory board effectively: Select people who complement your experience.

Advisory Board 229

Advisory Board Stock Options Stock Networking 229

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

A properly built advisory board can be a huge strategic advantage to any company. On the other hand, an advisory board put together haphazardly can be the biggest mistake for a company in the early stages of business. How do you avoid the advisory board death spiral? Select the right board member.

Advisory Board 225

Advisory Board Startup Liquidity Event Stock 225

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Many entrepreneurs I know are confused by the definition and need for an Advisory Board versus a Board of Directors. By definition, Advisory Boards are voluntary and have no fiduciary responsibility. How much are you willing to spend on your board? Legally, Directors are accountable for corporate conduct.

Advisory Board 348

Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Acquisition 348

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Investors want board seats and a vote on key decisions. But I suggest that a small advisory board with the right people might give you better guidance (no near-term financial bias), and you can always choose to ignore it if your insights are strong. Pre-defined milestones and deadlines in an uncertain world.

Bootstrapping 310

Bootstrapping Advisory Board Venture Capital Startup 310

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

If you can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2022

The best angels you will find are the ones who know you personally, or know a member of your team or advisory board. Find the right investment advisor, or member of your advisory board, and the “match-making” will happen. If you need more, you need VCs or a flock of angels. So how do you find those good angels?

Angel Investor 384

Angel Investor Advisory Board Database Institutional Investors 384

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2019

Image via Flickr by MDGovpics Many entrepreneurs I know are confused by definition and need for an Advisory Board versus a Board of Directors. By definition, Advisory Boards are voluntary and have no fiduciary responsibility. How much are you willing to spend on your board?

Advisory Board 247

Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Startup 247

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2020

Many startup founders I know avoid establishing a formal advisory board or board of directors for as long as possible, with the excuse that this is just another burden, or it has more risk than value to the founder.

Advisory Board 336

Advisory Board Startup IPO Government 336

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2021

If your startup is not quite ready for a formal board of directors, then I would recommend you start with the less formal advisory board. Members don’t need to all like each other, but they do need to respect one another and be committed to working together for the betterment of the business.

Advisory Board 362

Advisory Board IPO Government Acquisition 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Member of the Advisory Board. Every young entrepreneur needs an experienced partner for credibility with investors, and as a trusted cohort for strategy and growth discussions. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

If you are a new entrepreneur, or entering a new business area, it’s always worth your time to assemble an Advisory Board of two or three executives who have travelled that road before. Here are some tips on finding and using your advisory board effectively: Select people who complement your experience. Marty Zwilling.

Advisory Board 276

Advisory Board Startup Stock Options Stock 276

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

I once served on the Advisory Board of a technical software executive who refused to believe that his product was no longer competitive, and insisted that sales and marketing were no longer doing their job. Sometimes you have to kill the cash cow, or make personnel updates before the crisis, to assure long-term business health.

Customer 144

Customer Advisory Board Technical Review Angel Investor 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2016

That’s the function of a good advisory board. Thus I believe every smart investor, potential partner, or critical new hire will look for a properly built advisory board as a key criteria before selection or making a commitment. Keep the advisory board to a manageable size.

Advisory Board 151

Advisory Board Angel Investor Later Stage Stock 151

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Assemble an engaged new venture advisory board. Even though the funding cycle for external startups is often long and arduous, I find that big business funding processes are even longer, and more political. If you wait to start until your new venture really needs the money, the project will likely die of starvation.

Advisory Board 359

Advisory Board Incubator Dilution Agile 359

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2013

If you are an entrepreneur for the first time, or entering a new business area, it’s usually worth your time to assemble an Advisory Board of two or three executives who have travelled that road before. Here are some tips on using your advisory board effectively: Select people who complement your experience.

Advisory Board 241

Advisory Board Entrepreneur Stock Options Stock 241

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7% With all that said, here are some “rule of thumb” guidelines on what might be a reasonable offer, as summarized from a classic article by Guy Kawasaki , and based on discussions I hear rattling around the investor community. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Stock Options 343

Stock Options Advisory Board Stock Startup 343

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2022

Primarily for these reasons, I always recommend that new entrepreneurs and startups assemble a qualified Advisory Board or Board of Directors early in their lifecycle. You need to understand potential misconceptions, and ferret out any rumors which complicate the situation and lead to the wrong conclusion.

Leadership 345

Leadership Advisory Board Developer Silicon Valley 345

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

If you can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

If you can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Build qualified advisory board. If you can convince a couple of domain experts, or a couple of experienced executives to join your board and be your advocate, that’s traction. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO).

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2012

Add an advisory board or experienced mentor to reality-check your financial projections, timeframes, and milestones before you publish them. But not defining or publishing expectations is not the solution; that leads to quick disasters as everyone sets different ones, based on their own experience, or lack of it.

Advisory Board 240

Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2022

No entrepreneur is an island, so take the initiative to build an advisory board. Plus, they need to be willing to put their brains and their expertise at your disposal as long as you need it. Paying attention to all these things is how you become a fabulous entrepreneur, another entrepreneur idol.

Advisory Board 348

Advisory Board Bandwidth .Net Social Media 348

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

That means listening to investor expectations, communicating regularly and effectively, and assuming that all your efforts will now be monitored in the following ways: You now must have a Board of Directors. Investors will expect at least one seat on the board, and expect a board report from you each month on key items.

Term Sheet 433

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 433

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2019

The best angels you will find are the ones who know you personally, or know a member of your team or advisory board. Find the right investment advisor, or member of your advisory board, and the “match-making” will happen. If you need more, you need VCs or a flock of angels. So how do you find those good angels?

Advisory Board 247

Advisory Board Angel Investor Database Institutional Investors 247

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

Establish an advisory board of experienced peers. As your business grows, you won’t be able to manage every process personally, so you need help in quantifying results, productivity, and quality. I still see businesses that assume if everyone is working hard, all is well.

Advisory Board 336

Advisory Board Due Diligence Demand Partner 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

Investors want board seats and a vote on key decisions. But I suggest that a small advisory board with the right people might give you better guidance (no near-term financial bias), and you can always choose to ignore it if your insights are strong. Pre-defined milestones and deadlines in an uncertain world.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Advisory Board Startup Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

So, whether you are making early strategic hires, or growing your advisory board, look for people who are smarter than you, and not just like you. To me, it’s clear that the startups that make decisions based on individual and team merit, rather than title, politics, or culture execute faster and learn faster than their competitors.

Advisory Board 228

Advisory Board Silicon Valley Startup United States 228

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 31, 2017

I always recommend that a startup founder enlist an advisory board of three to five members, and I find that people who resist this help are not very resilient. Resilient entrepreneurs know what they don’t know, and are not afraid to reach out for guidance from their team, close advisors, and industry experts.

Advisory Board 120

Advisory Board Social Media Cofounder Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Build qualified advisory board. If you can convince a couple of domain experts, or a couple of experienced executives to join your board and be your advocate, that’s traction. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO).

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2011

Add an advisory board or experienced mentor to reality-check your financial projections, timeframes, and milestones before you publish them. But not defining or publishing expectations is not the solution; that leads to quick disasters as everyone sets different ones, based on their own experience, or lack of it.

Advisory Board 232

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 232

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

If you can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120