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Using ChatGPT, you can create a virtual board of advisors that brings the wisdom and perspectives of your chosen mentors to your fingertips. Why Create a Virtual Advisory Board? Before I walk you through how to set up your own virtual board, let me share how mine is helping my decision-making process.
Typically, investors don’t take a board seat until you raise your first equity round—which means that it could be *years* before you have a real board meeting: A year of nights/weekends work researching, prototyping, and fundraising. I’ll make it simple. How many is too many, for example?
As a director on an early stage company board, how do you deliver on your main responsibility as a board member - maximizing shareholder value? Those are very important questions that very few early stage company boards take the time and effort to ask early on when it is still possible to have the biggest impact.
Last June, I wrote about board diversity and suggested some things we are doing and that you can do to diversity your board. In the ten months that have passed since I wrote that I am pleased to say that we have seen a noticeable increase in board diversity in our portfolio. It is that important to me and USV. Just do it.
Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community.
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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March 18, 2025) Last week, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Board approved the creation of the Next New Jersey Program – AI and the AI Innovation Challenge Administration Grant Program.
Our board chairman called me in for a conversation. My standing with the board didn’t just recoverit soared. The Feedback That Made Me Sick to My Stomach Years ago, as president of Click Workspace, a startup coworking space, I received feedback that literally made me feel physically ill.
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.
I also think startup boards need to evolve. There should be many more independent directors and many fewer investor directors on startup boards. Investors should be more open to observer seats and founders should have more say in which investors sit on their boards. I think independent control is the most sustainable solution.
And because you need their money, the temptation is to listen a bit too well, and take all of the advice thrown at you during your presentations and during due diligence and finally from the vantage point of a board seat. Some board members may show dismay. After several months on the board, he spoke up. “I And push back.
I left the meeting and had to attend a 3-hour board meeting where two founders have been fighting and each want the other one fired. After my board meeting I had to do an interview with a CFO candidate that one of my portfolio companies asked me to speak with.
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.
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. There are of course many Seed VCs who take board seats, don’t over-commit to too many deals and try to help with “company building” activities to help at a company’s vulnerable foundations.
About 20 years ago I was a kid running my first startup and Baer was one of the early people to join our Board of Advisors. He came to every board meeting with deep insights and deeper belly laughs. The world lost Baer Tierkel last week at the age of 61. I learned a great deal from that man that proved pivotal.
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.
When Tinybop first launched, before they ever made their first app for kids, they started a newsletter that featured products they loved for kidsfrom everything from books to board games. It was carefully curated by an educational expert and for nine months, it built up a following of thousands of readers.
As I grow into my new role as EO’s Global Board Chair , I begin by looking back on my entrepreneurial journey over the past decade and see now, with the benefit of hindsight, how my understanding and approach to leadership have drastically evolved. Or as one of my EO Board Chair predecessors, Marc Stockli, once wrote, as a Leader’s Leader.
Now let's take a closer look at the time commitment involved when you're ready to invest in a company, what's required when serving as a board director, and how GPs should handle communications with their LPs. In Part I of this article we talked about the challenges and responsibilities General Partners face managing a fund.
She’s even been on several board calls already and last week showed up on her first pitch call. Or, just do the six months acroess the board—it doesn’t seem to be hurting Spotify. Home is a different story. How about paying into childcare costs, adoption, or IVF too?
Etsy, where I am Chair of the Board and a large shareholder, is a great example of that. ” This podcast with Brian Armstrong , founder and CEO of Coinbase, another public company where I am on the Board and a large shareholder, is a good example of that. .” There are many others in my career as well.
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. .
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.
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. Yet, do you know how many of those investors came through intros made by those who have a strategic economic development interest in fostering the NYC ecosystem?
If there is sincere interest on the part of the investor, offer to review a smaller raise and revised plan with your board. On the other hand, maybe you and your board have confidence that the amount being raised is the minimum required to achieve key milestones and a smaller raise simply does not make sense.
Early stage investors are often asked to sit on boards, and many sets of investment terms require that outside investors sit on the key board committees. But what’s involved in being on an Audit Committee, and how do you do it right?
VCs aren’t experts at every aspect of a startup at the same level across the board. If that’s not a conversation you have upfront, the founder may come off as a bit dismissive when they hear the color commentary—and why shouldn’t they? Maybe that would be helpful for a founder to share: “I’m excited to have you as part of this round.
Board meetings can be very powerful events where founders get valuable feedback, ideas, and strategic direction. Oftentimes, founders dread board meetings and look at them as low ROI events. Their primary role is to confirm the board meeting agenda. Tip #3: Focus on key issues How do you know what a “key issue” is?
Instead, our board pushed us to think bigger: What would it take to truly transform our region’s economy? ” At the time, we were running a startup accelerator for 6 companies. The safe play would have been scaling to 9 or 12. We jumped to 30 startups that first year5x our previous capacity!!!
billion board feet of usablewood. Cambium has partnered with brands, developers, and mass timber manufacturers seeking high-quality materials with reduced carbon footprintsnot just as an ethical choice, but as a sound business strategy. The numbers tell thestory: Every year, the U.S. Reclaiming wood significantly reduces carbon emissions.
The other day, I was in a board meeting and we were talking about the need for a software engineer. The team already had a lead on board. After a couple of weeks, I had written to 500 people, talked to at least 20, and made a hire, after failing to do so for months.
by Erick Slabaugh, a long-standing EO member in Seattle and former director on the EO Global Board “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” The Origins David Galbenski and I served on the EO Global Board together in 2007. The world needs us.
But if a founder wanted a list of jobs to automate, the BLS’ white collar jobs boards is a wonderful place to start. Legaltech has surged automating demand letters for personal injury, writing briefs for attorneys, & chomping away paralegal work. We could keep iterating through the list.
In her 20-year leadership tenure with the organization, Winnie has held volunteer positions ranging from Communications Chair to Global Board Director, and has been instrumental in EO’s progress. She currently serves as EO’s Senior Global Board Advisor for Leadership Communications and Brand.
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. As members of the board, they occupy leadership positions. Legally, directors are required to provide governance and oversight.
The venture asset class seems to have already decided that AI is the next great investment opportunity, but I’m not so sure it’s going to disrupt business and create the across-the-board wealth that has been predicted. Technology has already made the world pretty efficient.
You need to: study the rules, make sure that you don’t violate the “affiliate rule” (more later), consult with your Company Counsel, consult with your board and investors and then make your own determination. You should discuss with your board second. Who is this program for and why does it exist? It is not “free money.” It depends.
We will consider this series of articles a great success if we answer this question in a way that helps you build great boards for the companies you are involved with. We believe we can convince you of the incredible value a board delivers for a startup company.
I have watched so many leaders over the years in my various roles as lead investor, board member, board chair, investor, and advisor. And one thing I have learned from this front-row seat is that leading from the heart is very powerful. We are taught to project strength in moments like this.
Other key investors include Superguts founding investor, Dave Friedberg, through The Production Board, along with Cultivian Sandbox, Strand Equity, Access Capital, Alpha Edison, LivWell Ventures, and Rocana Ventures.
Designate time to play Apples to Apples, Punderdome or Cards Against Humanity ( a company favorite, but certainly not appropriate for every work environment ) or other card or board games. Create an office nap room ( sleep is more important than you realize, according to Matthew Walker, UCLA professor of neuroscience and psychology).
Perhaps if we spend more time talking about board participation, counseling entrepreneurs on decisions, helping them solve problems and working hard to recruit people, the type of people who apply to the job might change. 3) Access to money.
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