Advisor’s Corner: Javier Soltero on Board Meetings
On Feb. 4th Heavybit Advisor Javier Soltero gave a talk on Board Room Process. The talk was so well received that we’ve invited him to offer a few words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs running their first board meeting.
I’ve been in a lot of board meetings, and I’ve seen it all. There are several blog posts and resources out there for running a good board meeting, but in my experience it comes down to three basic rules:
1. Always Wear a Blazer
Even if you’re the only one wearing it. Why? Because it may be just enough of a break from your normal routine to help you set a more serious, focused tone for the meeting.
2. Never Do Board Meetings on Fridays
In the unlikely event that you have a lingering issue after a board meeting, you don’t want that hanging over your team heads over the weekend. You need the ability to follow up with everyone (board members & execs) and clarify/rectify anything that came out of the meeting.
3. Always Meet in Your Offices
Board members need to see the company in action, get a sense for the culture, and get to know the faces of the people who are working their ass off to make the company a success. Meeting offsite prevents this, and also takes you away from your home turf.
That’s it. Follow these simple rules and you’re on your way to a healthy board.
– Javier Soltero
Subscribe to Heavybit Updates
Subscribe for regular updates about our developer-first content and events, job openings, and advisory opportunities.
Content from the Library
How to Launch a Dev-First Startup #1: First Principles
How to Launch a Dev-First Startup from First Principles Some of the biggest names in developer-first software started from an...
MLOps vs. Eng: Misaligned Incentives and Failure to Launch?
Failure to Launch: The Challenges of Getting ML Models into Prod Machine learning is a subset of AI–the practice of using...
Technical & Cultural Learnings from 10 Years of Computing
What the Software Community Has Learned from 10 Years in Tech Amara’s Law states, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a...