Building a Board of Advisors
This is not a board of directors, the roles have no official capacity and they don’t have any authority over how the company is run. As a small business you shouldn’t need to pay these people.
Why have one
Support
Providers of wise counsel.
Providers of unbiased insights (as not employed by your company).
Help process your strategic thinking.
Initial employees aren’t always experts, so having strategic thinking around helps keep your neurons firing.
Knowledge & Learning
Past experience is a great teacher but when it comes to startups you’ll have none.
Providers of specialist knowledge.
Helps you build the skills you’ll need as the company grows.
Developing an understanding of the business, market and industry trends
Connections
Provides contacts and connections in all fields.
Helps you break through barriers to reach the right person directly.
Form the start of a new social networking at CEO level.
Can operate as company advocates.
Can help with fundraising.
Credibility
Shows potential investors you are well connected.
What roles should be on your board
I’d suggest you explore creating an initial advisory board with the following roles.
Legal
You’ll need terms, conditions, IP, HR contracts and shareholder documents for all of which a lawyer can be useful. Your advisor won’t do the work for free, but can help you tailor your requests to ensure low rates and recommend good contacts for specific work.
Accountant
Whilst your accountancy firm will do the day to day reporting, this user can help cast a wider view over your business and provide a more proactive approach to financial structuring that a bookkeeper, payroll provider or end of year accounts company will.
Technical
If you require website design, hosting or technical development having someone with expert knowledge of these processes will help keep your costs down and ensure you don’t miss any common ‘traps’ when negotiating contracts. They won’t do the work for free but they can help navigate the jargon and give you a better insight into what is important.
PR / Branding
Industry heavy hitter
This gives you more credibility with investors and helps open doors to networking events you might otherwise find difficult to access.
Connected deep pockets investor
You’ll probably need additional funds at some stage - having someone to run over your business proposition and who might be able to get it in front of potential investors can save days.
Entrepreneur / Mentor / Coach
After speaking with lawyers and accountants you may start to feel you’re a foolhardy idiot who has a reckless disregard for the law and finances. But these professions are, by their nature, risk averse so need to be consulted but not always followed. Having an entrepreneur’s insight is a great way to avoid self doubt.
I’ve recently become more involved in executive coaching - it sounds fluffy, but simply consider it as taking time to listen to yourself. Working with a coach is a great way to rapidly establish what your actual aims are and to recognise when you are getting in your own way.
Remember it’s your board so only get people you are comfortable communicating with openly and honestly.
Recruit specific talents.
Don’t be afraid to recruit doubters.
More is not necessarily better, try to keep it intimate.
What to look for in the people who make up your board
Communication and time are the two key elements when choosing your board members, ensure you get people you are comfortable talking with openly and honestly and who will have time to sit with you and go through an idea, concept or pitch.
You are not looking for free services, you want experienced professionals whose opinion you trust and who can distill a complex problem into a few stepping stones in a matter of minutes.
How to make your pitch
You're someone whose judgement I trust and who knows far more about 'the law' than I do.
I'd like to be able to call you occasionally to get your opinion on the company and in particular any ‘legal issues’ which arise in the future.
I'm not expecting you to do any work, but pointing me in the right direction would be really useful.
Getting the most from a board
Provide board members with a monthly email detailing what you have been doing and what you intend to do the following month.
Always include your sales predictions and reality.
You’ll need to do this when you get investors so get into the habit early.
These emails will keep your board abreast of developments and most important will enable them to highlight any recommendations or potential problems earlier in the process.
You won’t always see a red flag before it’s too late.
The board is not there simply for the problems, they have experience and insight so feeding them regular data makes them feel involved and provides them with a window to express suggestions.
I’d also suggest an annual meal (budget allowing) when you bring all board members together to say “thank you” as it provides for great blue skies thinking time.