I beforehand served as a CEO board director and as an unbiased board director for 2 startups. I believed within the management and merchandise at these corporations, however I resigned from each boards as a result of I couldn’t bear sitting via one other assembly.
Time is a hard and fast useful resource. As a board director, it’s essential to be useful to the management crew with the restricted time we’ve — in any other case, attending conferences turns into pointless. With concise supplies, you may make board conferences more practical and depart room for helpful conversations.
After we closed our Sequence A and a proper board of administrators was put in place, my co-founder and I despatched them this brief letter:
Pricey Board,
From the beginning at TigerEye, we promised ourselves we’d use our expertise to our benefit by making higher choices throughout all vectors on a regular basis. “What did we do this we by no means wish to do once more?” One factor we’d wish to by no means do is the three-hour, too-in-the-weeds, non-strategic board assembly. Here’s a memo we wrote as an alternative of getting ready a board deck. We hope this memo provides you the punchline on the enterprise and the way we’re fascinated about the long run, permitting nearly all of our time collectively for significant conversations.
With gratitude,
Tracy & Ralph
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
How we construction our 60-minute board conferences
The memo we share with our board is usually three pages lengthy and consists of authorized formalities like approving the final assembly minutes and inventory choice grants. That is the boring stuff that should occur with attorneys within the room, so we attempt to get that out of the way in which initially.
Subsequent, we overview our financials, as a result of that’s how investor board administrators maintain observe of the world. Included within the monetary replace is a snapshot of the enterprise:
- How a lot cash is within the financial institution.
- Variety of months of runway.
- Income.
- Development.
- Clients.
We talk about what we completed within the final three months as a crew and what we’re doing within the subsequent three. Then, it’s an open dialogue the place we push ourselves to debate worst-case eventualities and learn how to de-risk in opposition to them.
These conversations usually revolve across the aggressive market panorama, our route as an organization, present financial situations and a practical check-in on how a lot cash we’re burning and our capacity to execute.
Right this moment, TigerEye’s board conferences are an hour lengthy. The brief size has loads to do with our measurement — we’re an early-stage startup. However I nonetheless plan to maintain it concise and productive at the same time as we develop. I’ve led and attended over 100 hours of board conferences, and I by no means wish to dread my very own assembly once more.
No extra 80-page board decks
Each board deck I’ve made and seen is greater than 80 pages lengthy. I’m not exaggerating.
The problem with this a lot content material is there’s a finite quantity of minutes of consideration we get from the board and solely a lot info will be absorbed in a single sitting. If that a lot info must be communicated, contemplate sending common electronic mail updates or holding one-on-ones to maintain members up to date between conferences.
The objective of the supplies is to rapidly get your board up to the mark in your evaluation of the enterprise, shine a lightweight on the issues and get their assist strategically.
Present them the place your online business hurts probably the most
It is very important have fun the arduous work of the crew. However I’ve seen many board decks that overindex on wins and don’t focus sufficient on the losses.
In my expertise, every time I ignored the place it damage within the enterprise, it value me triple the period of time as a result of issues are likely to compound and don’t go away on their very own.
By no means bury unhealthy information
I as soon as skilled a gathering the place, with quarter-hour remaining, the founders revealed one thing that will fully change the enterprise and put it in danger.
We wanted not less than an hour to speak via our choices, however everybody was out of time and steam at that time.
Reduce down on showboating and victory laps
As a CEO who wished to provide every division head autonomy, I’d construction board decks with open areas for every government to supply updates. The problem with that strategy is that we ended up with incohesive decks the place every division chief used their allotted slides to brag about their groups’ wins and defend their roles.
As a substitute, deliver your board alongside in your journey of wins: If an enormous deal closes, textual content your board or electronic mail them because it occurs. Preserve an excellent cadence of communications with the board in order that they really feel included. This may even assist to chop down on the victory lap sections within the board supplies.
Use current artifacts
At my final firm, it could take a couple of weeks to generate new graphs and artifacts for board decks, and I’d later current them in an all-hands. I now understand this was unsuitable. If we do our jobs as leaders, the entire firm already understands near- and long-term targets and the way we’re working arduous at pushing the corporate ahead collectively.
A great way to seize and talk the route of the corporate is to have the crew create artifacts that spotlight the enterprise, in order that they’re introduced alongside early — and current these supplies to the board.
Enable for closed-door classes
A priceless lesson I realized from being on a board is the significance of closed-door classes. The CEO held a starting closed-door session to go over authorized issues with out their government crew. Then, there have been two closed classes on the finish, one with the CEO and board and one with solely the unbiased and investor administrators.
This gave the board area to debrief, talk about learn how to be most useful and create an motion plan. One of many administrators would then comply with up with the CEO. Closed-door classes enable for open and sincere communication and may result in more practical decision-making.
The obligations of a board at a startup can fluctuate relying on the dimensions and stage of the corporate, however usually, the board is chargeable for overseeing the corporate’s administration and making certain the corporate is run in one of the best pursuits of its stakeholders (shareholders, staff, prospects and the broader group).
Maintain board decks brief so all events can focus conversations on the long-term sustainability and success of your organization, which incorporates managing funds successfully. By doing so, the board can contribute considerably to the expansion and success of the startup.
