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“I think viewing your board as an audience to be ‘sold’ to instead of a partner in your journey will orient your board to be less trusting and collaborative.” Five Questions with Nilam Ganenthiran, Former President of Instacart

Hunter Walk

For startups, a good Board is better than no Board, but a bad Board is worse than anything. One component of a good Board is a high value add Independent Board Member, which in my experience, often doesn’t get added early enough (for a variety of reasons). I knew I wanted to help build it from the ground up.

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How Boards Need to Evolve Over Time

Both Sides of the Table

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions.

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Bringing startup expertise to the boardroom

NZ Entrepreneur

The immersive three-and-a-half-day programme is based around three key themes – board leadership, cultural intelligence and climate awareness. Each day focusses on a different facet of being a director – you, your board and practical governance. Listen to Board Matters Season 3, Episode 2 to hear more from Maria King.

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Please Help Me Congratulate Jordan Hudson as @UpfrontVC’s Newest Investment Principal

Both Sides of the Table

Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. I think it’s great for some people because it really does give you some solid benefits: board exposure / experience. In 2013 we launched many firsts to reinvent our firm.

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The Changing Venture Landscape

Both Sides of the Table

In 2001 companies IPO’d very quickly if they were working, by 2011 IPOs had slowed down to the point that in 2013 Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures astutely called billion-dollar outcomes “unicorns.” Pre-seed is just a narrower segment where you might raise $1–3 million on a SAFE note and not give out any board seats.

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The Achilles Heel of Startup Ecosystems

This is going to be BIG.

I backed that company in 2013 when it was basically a table top science project, but the key was a series of connections that could have only been possible as a full time investor. A lot of these strategic entities have boards that are filled with some of the most successful high net worth individuals, family offices, foundations, etc.

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What am I Thankful for This Year?

Both Sides of the Table

2013 has proved to be a wild year. Thank you to Tasha for helping to keep me sane by managing the onslaught of meeting requests, board meetings and constant change. 2013 was the year of wearable devices and physical products. So with the wild ride of 2013 I had thoughts about what made me thankful this year.

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