Getting Value from Your Board

Jennifer Baird, a serial venture and angel-backed CEO, shares tips for leading and working with a Board of Directors.

Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash

In three of the startups I led as CEO, I had active, engaged Boards of Directors that helped guide the development of my companies. My Board members included co-founders, angel investors, venture capitalists, and independent investors.

Working well with your Board of Directors is a critical skill for the CEO. I would like to share three insights that reflect my experiences working with Boards of Directors of early-stage, venture-backed companies.

1. Lead your Board. I remember the advice that one of my Board members gave me when I was just starting. I thought a Board of Directors was something like a boss. I felt that I should present the problems of the company to the Board and expect answers. My mentor-Board member said I had it backward. He explained that the Board expected me, as CEO, to lead them. He said it was my job to have thought about the big questions facing the company, to carefully consider what good options we might have, and to have a recommended path forward. I should not expect them to solve my problems for me. It was not that I had to have every answer. It is ok to say let me think about that and get back to you. In general, however, I should be out ahead, leading my Board, proposing a well-developed plan, and gathering feedback on it, not just laying a problem at their feet. Another VC-Board member once pointed out that, in their experience, if a CEO fails to lead that meant a new CEO was needed.
2. Develop a Dialog with Your Board. Leading the Board does not mean not listening to the Board. Your Board cares about your success. They are invested in it. They want to help. And each Board member has unique expertise and perspectives to offer. So developing a relationship with each Board member outside of Board meetings is important. Allowing time within Board meetings for considered discussion is important. Listening carefully to what they are saying is important. But do not think for one moment that you can enter the conversation without your own point-of-view to offer when your Board members ask what you think.
3. Get value from your Board preparation. Boards are valuable because they encourage you and your team to step back and look at your company strategically on a regular cadence. As I have grown as a CEO, I have come to see how precious the very process of having a Board of Directors is to a young company. While preparing for Board meetings is always a disruption to the day-to-day operating flow of running the business, it also represents some of the inherent value in having a Board of Directors. Board preparation leads me to step back from the details and look at the big picture. It encourages me to ask myself and my team some of the tough questions facing us because I know that my smart Board members are going to ask those questions, and I want to have well-considered answers.

My experience working with Boards of Directors has taught me to appreciate their valuable contribution to building startup companies. This is especially true if you do a great job leading them, dialoguing with them, and taking advantage of the value-building opportunity inherent in the process of engaging them. Thinking from the Board’s point of view forces me to look at the forest rather than getting lost in the trees.

Jennifer Baird jumped into the world of high potential startups in 2001. Now, as a serial venture and angel-backed CEO, she has raised over $50M and led the development of startups in microelectromechanical systems, ultrasound transducers, life science tools instruments, utility-scale wind energy systems, and FDA-regulated medical device software. Jen has joined startups in progress and co-founded three from scratch. She’s recruited hundreds of tremendous team members, investors, and stakeholders to contribute to the efforts. Her outcomes have ranged from startups who achieved global sales and 10x revenue exits to the difficult decision to wind down and return capital to the investors and other points in-between. In addition to building her own startups, Jen contributes to the startup community as a speaker, panelist, and guest lecturer on startup best practices. She is a blogger (www.StartupCEOreflections.com), an entrepreneurial ecosystem mentor, an occasional angel investor, and VC limited partner.