Wiley.com

Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors

ISBN: 978-1-118-44366-8
240 pages
February 2014
US $29.95 Add to Cart

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Business & Finance, Self Improvement


January 07, 2014
Hoboken, NJ

Brad Feld and Mahendra Ramsinghani’s New Book Explores the Essentials to Understanding the Dynamics of a Startup's Board of Directors

How does an entrepreneur manage this beast called the board, which has many heads, and even more opinions? Indeed, dealing with this aspect of a startup can be tricky for anyone. That’s why Brad Feld, a boulder-Colorado- based entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, and seed investor Mahendra Ramsinghani have written the sixth book of the StartUp Revolution series Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors (WILEY; January 2014; Hardcover & e-book; $29.95; ISBN: 978-1-118-44366-8). In it, they skillfully clarify board dynamics and the inner workings of a boardroom for today’s entrepreneur.

“Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot on your plate—getting to your minimum viable product, developing customer interaction, hiring team members, and managing the accounts/books. Sooner or later, you have a board of directors, three to five (or even seven) Type A personalities who seek your attention and at times will tell you what to do,” says Feld. “While you might be hesitant to form a board, establishing an objective outside group is essential for startups, especially to keep you on track, call you out when you flail, and in some cases, save you from yourself.”

In Startup Boards, the authors share their experiences in this area by exploring the importance of having the right board members on a team and how to manage them effectively. Along the way, they share valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support an entrepreneur, help them understand a startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold the team accountable. The book also:

  • Details the process of choosing board members, including interviewing many people, checking references, and remembering that there should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit
  • Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixing social time with business time
  • Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation

“When writing this book we decided that in addition to describing the startup board approach that resulted from Brad’s two- year experiment with various boards, it was important to lay groundwork and clearly explain how startup boards worked, how they could be effective, and what the challenges were,” says Ramsinghani. “Brad’s new board approach is built on the traditional board of directors, so rather than throw it out, we use a highly functioning one as the basis for a new, evolved, and much more effective approach to a board of directors.“

Startup Boards explores how to construct the board, lead and manage it, and deal with conflicts when they arise. It will also help entrepreneurs understand how to get the most of their board and how to address things when they aren’t working. While a great board can be a guidepost and a positive catalyst, a bad board can cause angst and frustration, destroy value, and occasionally kill a company.

“While first-time CEOs and founders often have an elevated view of the boardroom, great startup boards aren’t fancy, complex, or pretentious. Instead, a startup board is usually a small group of people trying to help build your company,” adds Feld. “Our goal is to demystify how a board of directors works, discuss historical best and worst practices, and give readers a clear set of tools for creating and managing an awesome board.”