Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors by Brad Feld & Mahendra Ramsinghani

Author:Brad Feld & Mahendra Ramsinghani
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-12-08T14:00:00+00:00

After the Meeting

A board meeting is always a learning experience of processes, personalities, and group dynamics. Graphicly CEO Micah Baldwin warns, “How you run a meeting is an indication of how you run the company—if the meetings start late, materials are sloppy or not on time, you are bouncing around all over the place . . . the VCs will think, ‘Hmmm . . . is this how you run your company as well?’”

Board members can quickly become frustrated when critical issues such as a low cash position, poor market adoption, or endless changes in strategy are ignored. If the CEO does not raise issues directly, a good board will bring those up. EDF Ventures co-founder Thomas Porter says, “If you don’t ask for help, especially in challenging times, the board will step in and offer help—and then eventually ask you to step aside.” Tim Miller adds, “As an early-stage CEO, you need to develop the confidence to admit that you don’t know. Only then you will get help.”

Good boards appreciate the fact that CEOs listen and follow up with feedback or clarifications. If you call a board member after the board meeting with a simple question such as, “I wanted to make sure I did not miss your point. Did you mean . . .,” that speaks to your ability to understand what was said.

When BigDoor chief technical officer Jeff Malek reflected on a difficult board meeting, he realized he was worried about a few points that board members brought up. The word casual came up a few times in the meeting and Jeff was concerned. He went back, reflected on the situation, and then wrote an e-mail to make sure he did not stay “casual.” Brad responded with a public blog post (with Jeff’s permission), which follows (see p. 99).

I have a retrospective addiction. But as a result of looking back at our meeting today, Brad, words like casual still ringing in my ears, I recognized I’d let some of my own assumptions drive away potential opportunities, maybe even creating some problems along the way. I’ve always run under the assumptions that:

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