# Advisory and board members
- URL: https://www.petrikajander.com/purpose-n-clarity/advisory-and-board-members/
- Author: Petri Kajander
- Date: 2023-04-10
- Language: en
- Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/7330d180/podcast/play/63662907/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fexports%2F7330d180%2F63662907%2Fe6929406cebdaac44710e85c012a74a8.m4a
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_QF77lJy9M

Do you need an advisory board, or is the board enough? What do you want from external experts, and how can you get them?

## Transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_QF77lJy9M, YouTube's automatic captions)

[0:03] Welcome to business purpose and Clarity with patreon your host we talk about startup live insights practical tips mistakes failures and everything between today I'm gonna talk about advice report and board memberships and why you really want to have them and who you actually getting while we talk about this topic today keep in mind that what is what you really want yeah why are you really getting those patterns because it seems to me that many times people say something but they actually mean something else well it becomes clear in a minute and probably already figured out what I'm talking about why you need a board you know the official thing where they make decisions and they are watching over the whole company obviously there are legal reasons to have a board but when you're an early stage company you don't have much money so you cannot compensate them properly there's also liabilities if you're in the board member so you can.

[1:06] Legally be also responsible of things and it's not a fun job in that sense so usually if you have investors the investors are on the board because they watching over the investment if they're doing it as a professional institutional at least so there's a reason why they are on the board but if you want to get some other people on the board why should they do it let's look at first from your perspective why would you like to have external on your company in some some shape or form where you can put it in the website whether it's in Advisory Board in the board you want something out of them you want to have their Network they want to do some sales for you they want to do something for the company in order for the company to grow that's one perspective I would you like to have someone on those roles the other thing why you would probably want to do is that and I don't say it's a good thing but that's what people do is that you want to look good you want to impress other people meaning whatever the the tasks you're going to do maybe you want to raise a new funding round or close.

[2:10] Some key clients or employees and you want to show that hey I know people we have good stuff here happening see who is on our board who we have as an Advisory board members so you don't really actually want that much from the people or maybe you want something out of them but it's more like you're showing off you have other purposes behind it so to speak but you may not actually tell that to the person so you will say to them something else but that's why you want them and this was the question in the beginning what do you really want because let's go to that question now if you actually really want to have expertise you want to have access to some Network you want to have new clients or close funding or some of these things have you considered that maybe you don't need to have that official Port membership because it might be hard to get those people convinced to join the board if you cannot compensate them properly or they think that it's too much trouble uh or whatever but you're still could have access to.

[3:14] Them maybe you could have them part of the team but not by offering them a board membership meets they will refuse there are other ways to do that as well so that's why I'm saying that really think about carefully what is what you want in an early stage company if you don't think about only from the perspective of running the company usually small Port is good board because you need to do quick decisions you need to be agile you need to be flexible you need to be able to make the decisions you need to be able to call the board in a short time and discuss issues and get it over with and if you have too many people there people who are too busy or it's just too bloated too many members having five to ten people in there and you know everybody has to stay busy schedules and just finding the time and you know it's just like really like getting bureaucratic thing it's not really probably serving you the earlier you are.

[4:16] A more agile your business needs to be that's not really helping the business in a sense if you're having that bloated board what is it what you really want advice report on the other hand well what does it actually mean you have people on your website in your slide deck showing that you know I know these people I'm randomly calling them and they're giving me some advice when when I need it yeah it's up to you to organize it to make it to work if you really want to have that do you want to have these meetings like periodic meetings set up something and do you want to offer them as as well something that they will get to know each other and they have good time depending on your business and and where you want to run it yeah maybe that's a good idea but it also takes time and then you have the advice report and then you have the real part and the business to run and take care of of course with employees and all the other stuff as so nothing is free even though you're not compensating for your advice report members maybe there's another way to do that yeah well you could also run the.

[5:19] Advice report in a way that you are not having official meetings but you're just having more like a bunch of people you're calling once in a while and doing one-on-ones with them and everybody's happy and you don't need to stress too much about it but you could still probably have them in a website so that's one way to run an advisory report going from the other perspective from the person's perspective who you asking to join or you're thinking of could be a good match for you why would they come along first of all who can you get well if you think about really like those professionals who are in high demand and are busy are really like you know the best of the best um well now is the time to look at the mirror and say that why should they join you are you good enough really I mean should they give you time dedicate from the other stuff they could do the opportunity cost to help you and your business and now is the crucial part.

[6:22] For what for the owner of being shown to be a support member on your website or as a recognition of being an advisor report member I mentioned that on the LinkedIn if they're really excellent and in high I don't think they probably will even mention that they are on your board of working and helping you out oftentimes in most of the cases that's you know the reality of it but you may not actually get them so let's talk about the other two of people who you actually can get why you get them they may actually want to have that CB line or the LinkedIn line or the mentioning so they actually collecting these credentials but then you should ask they're not after the money you cannot compensate them properly so that's out of the table they want to join and there's this old Marx choke that I don't want to join any.

[7:29] Club where I can become a member this is a thing to keep in mind the people you're getting can they actually help you are they the best people to help you those who are available may not exactly be the ones you want to have and that's the Paradox of the situation if you actually look at also from the perspective that you're having professional persons let's say a consultant or someone who is in high demand and they are asking quite a bit of money per day to help companies out and then you're offering them to become your board member maybe you even pay something not much something would you say that hey you have to come to the board meetings you have to fly in it's actually a physical meeting it's not not any zooms or themes and you have to also have some extra days to do some strategic work or whatnot if you actually do a quick calculation and check that how much would these persons charge as a consultant to do the same stuff you know the time dedication and and what is.

[8:34] Required probably is not a good match meaning that they they will not do it because it's like okay this is my regular job why should I actually give it to for you for free or you're not actually compensating properly and you you're asking so much out of me that's usually the case even in a smaller medium-sized regular businesses which are not startups growth companies but the profitable businesses it's hard to get good people because of this thing they're not paying enough the companies are not paying enough for the really good people to come in unless there's something they want to have like they are out of hobbies or they want to get a little bit more board experience and climb into bigger companies or whatnot where the public real estate companies the ones that really want to get and you're just like a stepping stone for them but this is something you need to figure out as well what is the motivation of the person why you kidding them so what is it what you really want do you really need an advisor report do you need a big.

[9:38] Who are the persons you really need who are the persons you can get and what are the goals you really want to fulfill is there another way to approach those just something to think about.