1. YOUR BOARD AS YOUR SECRET WEAPON
ARIEL POLER @ariel Human Augmentation
2. Arielâs Background
ď Founder: IPRO, Topica, & Textmarks.
ď Board Member: Kana, LinkExchange, Freedom Financial, Odeo,
StumbleUpon, Silicon Investor, Scan, Strava, Returnly.
ď Investor: AdMob, Flixster, Slideshare, BrightRoll, Instructables, VivaReal,
Optimizely, Thumbtack, Viki, Pantheon, ApartmentList, Mashery,
Kongregate, LendingHome, NexTag, Thync and ~100 moreâŚ
ď Personal: MIT (math), Stanford (mba), San Francisco (home).
ď Current Focus: Human Augmentation
3. Most Boards are a waste of time
â or worst
ďMost books suck
ďMost movies are a waste of time
ďMost of [fill in any category] are mediocre
4. Yet great boards can be
super valuable
ďStrategic advice
ďConnections
ďIdeas from other relevant companies
ďSounding board
5. It all starts with the
board compositionâŚ
ďPeople who understand their role: to add value
ďPeople you respect and trust
ďDiversity of value added: industry, operations, confidant.
ďDiversity of personalities: cheerleaders vs devilâs advocates
ďDiversity of perspectives: healthy debate
ďDesign your board for maximum valued added â not safety
6. You get out what you put in
ďKeep board members informed
ďSelect the strategic and tactical issues to discusses
ďPrepare the relevant information and share it way in advance
7. Use Board meetings as an
opportunity to look at the Forest
ďSet medium and long term goals and objectives
ďReview performance against objectives
ďDiscuss possible actions to address issues
ďDonât get bogged down on the data. Focus on insights.
ďEverything on the board should be valuable to you
8. Share your analysis
ďIt is not enough to share your plan and ask for feedback
ďWe are consider Plan X over Plan Z. The pros and cons of each
plan are the followingâŚ
9. Board meetings rarely make good
brainstorming sessions
ďInstead, share the details and ask specific questions and
suggestions
ďIf you donât share the key information that you have, board
members wonât know what to focus on
10. Keep control of the agenda
ď25% of the time for updates
ď50% of the time for strategic issues
ď25% of the time for âotherâ
ďDonât let board members go on tangents, e.g., feature
requests/gripes, advertising ideas, personal stories, etc.
11. Leverage board meetings to
benefit your management team
ďThey can join meetings for 1/3 to 2/3 of the meeting
ďManagement teams appreciate board exposure
ďBoard members can give you valuable feedback about the
management tem dynamics
12. Specific Ways in Which Board
Members Are Valuable
ďSharing relevant information from other companies
ďService providers, best practices, software tools
ďMaking introductions relevant to specific issues
ďFunctional experts, industry experts, hiring references
ďHaving follow up conversations with the management team
13. Ideal Frequency is
once or twice per quarter
ďDepends on maturity of the company, but a good starting
point is every other month. Very early companies might do
every 6 weeks. More mature companies every quarter
14. No speakerphones â
Everyone should be âpresentâ
ďThe dynamics of meetings deteriorate significantly when
everyone is talking down to the speakerphone
ďBetter to have everyone on the phone and do a conference call
if needed
ďIf someone canât make it, fill them in after the meeting
15. Finding & Recruiting
Board Members is Hard
ďVery similar to hiring top talent
ďYour network is your best source
ďWith the benefit that you can âshareâ board members
ďUse references & working meetings to evaluate
ďStart informally
ďGreat boards attract great board members
ďThink about it when choosing investors
ďCompensation has a broad range, mostly in equity