Forming an Advisory Board

2 comments January 21st, 2008

Forming an advisory board: “it takes a village to make a startup” advises Richard Weber of Semifore. Part of trick to “finding your village” is get into the habit of regularly presenting plans and results to at least kitchen cabinet from day one.

An advisory board is different from a formal board of directors that is created as you take on outside funding (or prepare to take on outside funding). They may be friends, unpaid advisors, or consultants who advice you value and whose expertise and experience typically fills a blind spot in your current founding or executive team. For stock compensation several attendees suggested options in the range of 1/10 of one percent to one percent of the common pool. Advisory boards may meet monthly, or one or twice a quarter. Half of the value can be in the preparation the startup team goes through to present results and plans for next time period, so prior preparation is one of the keys to making advisory boards effective.