Both Sides of the Table

MAY 3, 2015

It spoke to me because it so resonates with my nearly daily advice to entrepreneurs and VCs alike. I went as far as to call it the best Tweet of 2015 so far because it encapsulated my advice so succinctly. I watch founders who want to get “air cover” for hard decisions by getting too much input from their teams or boards.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

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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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. I started this series in part to help entrepreneurs but also to help newer investors because I’ve know with so many new companies you have so many new board members and many people are trying to figure out there respective roles.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. This is smart because amazing board members can be transformative with important advice and access and can also help attract other great board members (and team members).

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

We also spoke about what it takes to be an effective board member. On the one hand I often find that some board members are seemingly reading the board materials on the fly and don’t have a firm grasp of the business fundamentals while on the other hand some board members like to tinker in the running of the business.

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The Seraf Compass

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Many years ago I joined the board of a company after my angel group became the lead investor in the company’s seed financing round. As part of my compensation for being a board member, the company issued me restricted stock.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When you set up a board it is often initially a combination of the founders and the early investors. This post sets out how I believe founders (and investors) should think about independent board members having worked with many of them for the past 20 years. The board is where large equity investors get their representation.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 14, 2022

Contributed by Robert Glazer , a former EO Boston member who is the founder and chairman of the board of Acceleration Partners , a global partner marketing agency and the recipient of numerous industry and company culture awards. The post Pomp and Reality: Real advice for today’s graduates appeared first on.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2024

All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. Actually, there are two legal duties of board members. Sometimes, there will be a conflict of interest between the people representing the various shareholder classes on a board.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

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. Startup Advice' Alumni activities. And so forth.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

While you may be a strong leader, she asserts, the ability to adapt your strengths to each new organization, or to changes within the organization—new board members, new staff members, new shareholders—is the quality that will help you remain successful. . Organizations (like people) are always in transition.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 6, 2023

Serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor Vinod Khosla has some strong, contrarian advice for the venture capital industry: don’t sit on your founders’ boards. Other VCs accuse us of being very active and very engaged — but the flip side of it is they vote on boards. We don’t — no matter how important an issue.”

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American Entrepreneurship

MAY 29, 2024

The most successful entrepreneurs are those who take the approach of seeking out those who can give the best advice when dealing with the challenges of growing their small business or startup. The Importance of Seeking Out Expert Advice Seeking out expert advice is crucial for small business owners for several reasons.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Startup Advice VC Industry' Deals done in your industry? It’s a bit of all of these. Industry or Operating Experience?

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Here is advice I collected for dealing with the stress of running a startup: 1. Brad Feld, a partner at Foundry Group and investor in many successful startups, gave me this piece of advice. I interviewed a number of prominent VC’s and entrepreneurs for my recent book. Remember that you are not alone. A startup is not a lone adventure.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I can’t tell you how many people have thanked me for this advice and say their productivity increased exponentially. One area I’ve had much discussion with the companies in which I’ve invested in is bringing on board an operationally focused CFO. And board confidence matters in growing companies.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 29, 2012

You're going to want syndication partners on the deals you find and sounding boards on the thesis behind each of your potential investments. You essentially productize your advice, honing in on more standardized sets of actions you can suggest that entrepreneurs take. 2) Network with as many other angel investors as possible.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

We have been advising a lot of entrepreneurs so I thought I’d “open source” some of the advice I have been sharing. So my only goal is to give you insights into the conversations we’ve been having in case you don’t have the same access or advice. I’m getting so much conflicting advice, whom should I listen to? It depends.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2016

Generally speaking, women are more inclined to listen well, work with others and to offer help--so when the job gets seen as just a lone, final yes/no, where you bark out advice after listening to a founder for five minutes, that might seem less interesting. 3) Access to money.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

At any moment in time one of Upfront’s associates are likely to be working on: a pricing strategy, a market-expansion strategy, an M&A review, or helping build a company’s first board deck template. Startup Advice' We’ve done all of these recently. We encourage you to judge us by our actions.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

To put that timeframe in perspective, here’s a picture of analyst me taken at USV’s first office in 2005, dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt versus a picture of me, a GP at my own firm, over 100 deals later, now on my latest Zoom board call from my couch at home with my junior analyst of about a year and a half.

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The Seraf Compass

JUNE 9, 2021

When you combine great leadership with a strong board of directors, the likelihood of a successful outcome for a business increases by an order of magnitude. However, truly engaged and knowledgeable directors can add significant additional value by providing strategic input and advice.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I think his advice is this op-ed is bananas. I have even had to get physical security advice from some of the crazy. Would you recommend that I create an open Trello board and anybody can add tasks for me there? Are you interested in looking at this investment where I’m on the board?” No, it’s not fun.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As female entrepreneurs, we are independent-minded and innovative, and this advice is critical for securing our future and the future of our families. She provided me with so much advice on business strategy, business channels and HR. My first female mentor was the incredible Janine Allis , founder of Boost Juice.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

He signed a release and remained on the board. He regretted the decision and sued the company and the board – it’s still not totally clear to me what he was suing about. I would like to just offer some very simple advice: 1. If you think you may have to terminate employees always have legal advice.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

When DataSift sets up a board meeting (next one in London, last was in NYC) we have investors from NYC (IA Ventures), SF (Scale Ventures) and the founding team + chairman in London. I will commit to traveling to NYC seven times per year for board meetings. All I would ask is that you hold 1-2 board meetings / year in KC.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

They now have a strong VC lead from Foundry Group and from experience when you get advice from Foundry it comes with authority, experience, empathy and the right amount of straight talk. I know because I have been the beneficiary of their advice for years and have appreciated it. All of my partners at Upfront do.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 15, 2023

Miranda is Board Director of CRDB Bank Plc and Board Chair of the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative that empowers hundreds of women from across the continent. She is Board Vice Chair of CCBRT Hospital and an active member-leader of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization where she serves as Chair of Global Learning.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Given the request for input and feedback, you might expect a presenter to receive various advice from the other Forum members. However, most Forum organizations train members to specifically avoid giving advice. Under an advice framework, my Forum-mates take turns telling me what I should do in my specific situation.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

I have sat through scores of board meetings in the past year and in at least 25% of them the topic of a senior employee we hired that hasn’t worked out comes up. Startup Advice' Most (whether they hire quickly or slowly) are very slow to deal with problems once they have them.

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Revolution

MARCH 1, 2023

As we have discussed with management teams and boards over the years, it is easy to find a company that failed because it ran out of cash. Advice to Rising VCs and Founders Navigating The Correction was originally published in Revolution on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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Berkonomics

JUNE 20, 2024

Ever get bad advice? Ever take that advice without question because the person giving it was an investor, a superior in rank, the chairperson of your board? I’ll bet you have at least one story of bad advice taken and being bitten as a result. We all have in our past. But I digress. What went wrong? What went wrong?

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

APRIL 21, 2021

So this work to find the right pairing is critical and is a lot of the work that board members do with the founders and their leadership team in startups. But going back to my friend and his advice that I started this post with, it is true that operational leadership alone will not get the job done. Most are not.

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Source Link

JANUARY 29, 2022

Lean on advice from others who’ve been there before. The organizations that are part of our network continuously lean on each other for advice and benefit from hearing about the experiences of entrepreneurs who have overcome similar challenges. Here at SourceLink, we partner with many amazing communities across the U.S.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

And why would it make sense to bring me on board?” Startup Advice' Not from a random phone call. Not from LinkedIn. I read the pitch they had sent my friend. But barely. It almost didn’t matter. It didn’t pass the smell test. Always assume the worst. You have a big fund. ” Then I listen. Is it plausible?

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

And they will offer you some of the best business advice you will ever receive if you’re open to it. One day if you’re lucky you’ll be big enough to work with recruiters to hire senior members of your team or your board. And it’s not just lawyers. EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS. It’s a great read.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

As an alternative I’ve also found board meetings to be a good rallying call. It gives a tangible goal and also the reward of the team that completes the project the opportunity to interact with the board. I wrote about this some time ago in my post, “ Nine Women Can’t Make a Baby in a Month.”

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