Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

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 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Between Board Meetings. Communicating Between Board Meetings. The Agile Board. Board Observers & Advisory Boards -. The Problem with Board Observers. Rethinking the Role of Board Observers. Why Advisory Boards Give Less Value Than Most Hope. Meeting Dynamics.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Los Angeles 365

Board Effect

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Your founders and board members won’t always have the necessary expertise you need in every area to be competitive and sustainable. An advisory board can be of great assistance to your startup by filling crucial gaps in your leadership talent. Let’s begin with the definition of the role of a startup advisory board member.

Advisory Board 84

Advisory Board Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Building an Advisory Board In my travels outside the building I kept my eyes out for articulate and visionary scientists and engineers who had expertise we lacked, and were willing to help in an advisory capacity. I set up an advisory board as a vehicle to get these industry experts engaged with the company and product.

Engineer 225

Engineer Silicon Valley Part-Time VPE Advisory Board 225

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

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

An efficient way to facilitate this type of two-way communication is to organize customer sessions or quarterly CAB (customer advisory boards) that consist of a representative sample of an existing customer base. Implementing this company-wide ensures that all teams and stakeholders hear about the challenges that need to be tackled.

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Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 347

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

Our guest speaker for our fourth class was John Hurley , former Member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an expert on semiconductors and supply chains, and former Captain, U.S. Gov’t should do regarding semiconductors? Class 4: Guest Speaker. If you can’t see the slides, click here.

Technical Review 412

Technical Review Taiwan Technology Silicon Valley 412

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

YoungUpstarts

JULY 5, 2011

The GoodBuzz team currently comprises five people – three software engineers, one marketing manager and an operations officer - and works closely with an advisory board of industry specialists. .&# He adds that, aside from event organizers, the service is also useful for startups and the non-profit sector.

Togo 222

Togo Africa Advisory Board Campaign 222

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 13, 2025

” In the mid-2000s, after the internet bubble had collapsed, Dan’l Lewin organized a group of VCs that included me to be part of a Microsoft VC Advisory board. Steve then laughed and said, “Tell Charlie hello.”

Fractional CTO 127

Fractional CTO Advisory Board Denver Cloud 127

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 Startup Venture Capital 310

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.

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Advisory Board Leadership Customer Developer 317

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 Fractional CTO 281

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

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

OCTOBER 9, 2023

A small advisory board of outside people with experience in your domain can give you the unbiased feedback you need, as well as connections for setting up distribution and sales channels. This is not just a product pitch, but must include all elements of your pricing, marketing, distribution and maintenance.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

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 Fractional CTO CTO Hire 260

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

JUNE 17, 2011

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 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity Fractional CTO CTO Hire 253

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.

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Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

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

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

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

MAY 22, 2010

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 (CIO) and a product lead (CTO).

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity Fractional CTO CTO Hire 222

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

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.

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Advisory Board Silicon Valley Startup United States 228

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

Other labels: Consultant – Take bits and pieces, possibly coach Advisor / Advisory Board Member – Often a periodic responsibility and some ad hoc activities. Some weeks might end up being pretty much full-time on a single startup (e.g., important planning meetings or partner meetings). But it generally works out well in the end.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2010

Many startups have an advisory board of sympathetic people with industry expertise, or people who enjoy mentoring, or people who donate a few services on the come. Once you take investment, you will also have a fiduciary board, with the responsibility of making the company successful. All problems will go away.

Advisory Board 233

Advisory Board Cofounder Phoenix Arizona 233

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 2, 2013

He also served on the advisory boards of several technology companies and currently sits on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Data Storage Institute of the Government of Singapore. We took the opportunity ask him to how storage virtualization and its trends would affect technology startups.

Advisory Board 150

Advisory Board Technical Review Singapore Startup 150

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 5, 2015

Our intention from day one was to have both an executive board and an advisory board. Unfortunately, a formal advisory board was something we never fully formed. The goal of this group should be to challenge perspectives and ensure a higher level of accountability than one that can be implemented among peers.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Advisory Board Software Review 100

The Next Web

JUNE 26, 2013

There were also a number of smaller investments from angels that as part of the agreement now form a part of the company’s shiny new advisory board. Contentful takes an “API-first approach” to content in order to be able to feed it to any Web-enabled device from a single input.

Security 132

Security Advisory Board Management API 132

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Assemble a credible inside advisory board and partners. Relationships with recognized and influential bloggers, relevant media, and industry analysts are priceless. Traction with these people usually is indicative of later traction to come with customers.

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Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2022

Having worked with hundreds of founders and early-stage startups, I often hear questions in regards to setting up an Advisory Board. The post Best Practices for a Successful Startup Advisory Board appeared first on Gust.

Advisory Board 185

Advisory Board Early Stage Startup Founder 185

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

MAY 3, 2017

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. As an alternative, every CEO needs an Advisory Board to help them grow, which they can ignore or fire at their pleasure.

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Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Acquisition 174

Board Effect

OCTOBER 23, 2024

This is where the advisory council steps in. Whatever you call it, advisory councils can serve various purposes to help further an organization’s mission and provide valuable benefits to boards of directors. It’s also important for advisory councils to have a governing charter.

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Advisory Board Government Technical Review Oregon 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2015

A small advisory board of outside people with experience in your domain can give you the unbiased feedback you need, as well as connections for setting up distribution and sales channels. This is not just a product pitch, but must include all elements of your pricing, marketing, distribution and maintenance.

Business Model 120

Business Model Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review 120