Brad Feld: Best Practices and Stories from the Author of Startup Boards

03/03/20 • 48 min

What was Brad Feld's experience as a board member of successful companies such as SendGrid like? How does the experience differ from a company such as ReturnPath, which took considerably longer to arrive at a positive exit? How about when to start a board as a startup and how to construct said board?

Brad Feld has been a venture investor for over 30 years. He founded Foundry Group and has invested in companies such as FitBit, SendGrid and many others. In addition, Brad is a prolific blogger/author in the startup space, having authored many useful works such as Startup Boards and Venture Deals.

In this episode, Brad shares stories about boards he has served on and the insights he has derived from those experiences. You will hear stories about conflicts and how they were resolved at the board level, and best practices for consensus building and on-boarding board members using a "board orientation package". We explore how to think about board construction at the earliest stages, the importance of boards as a helpful tool for early-stage companies, and the "emotional priorities" of the board.

If you want to follow what Brad is up to, you can follow him on Twitter at @bfeld. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.

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undefined - Nikhil Basu Trivedi: Taking A Chance On Young Board Members, First Boards As A Venture Capitalist, And More Insights On The Role Of Observers

Nikhil Basu Trivedi: Taking A Chance On Young Board Members, First Boards As A Venture Capitalist, And More Insights On The Role Of Observers

What is it like to be on a Board with heavy hitters such as Mamoon Hamid (KPCB), Aileen Lee (Cowboy), and Angela Strange (Andreessen Horowitz)? Why are google docs not an entirely bad idea to share the Board deck with Board members? Why can Observers have a relationship advantage with founders compared to Board Directors?

Nikhil is a board member/observer at ClassDojo, Frame.io, Imperfect Produce, Plays.tv, Tally, The Farmer’s Dog. He has co-sponsored many of Shasta’s investments since joining the team in 2012. Nikhil was named in 2015 to Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list for Venture Capital.

In this episode, we discuss how Observers can be in the ear of the entrepreneurs without the tension that exists between a Board Director and the CEO. We discuss why Observers can be strong allies for CEOs by being an informal point of contact for them to better understand the Board, and oftentimes they have more capacity to do work.

Nikhil also reflects on his first investment as lead and first Board seat as full Director at The Farmer’s Dog when he was still a Principal, why your first Board seat is as much the founder betting on you than the other way around, and more generally why that first Board seat is so special. Finally, we also debate why alignment is usually not an issue in early stage VC, and hence why the first role of a Board member in early stage startups is to provide services to the founders and make sure their Board duties don’t consume too much of their time and energy.
If like Nikhil, you are interested in consumer-oriented businesses and the transformation of healthcare, education, energy, and the life sciences by mobile and web technologies, you should absolutely follow him on Twitter @nbt. For more information on his firm, follow @shasta or visit their website www.shastaventures.com. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.

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Kevin Oxendine: Lower Middle Market Entrepreneurship And Search Fund Boards

Kevin is a Partner at Pacific Lake Partners and works closely with search fund entrepreneurs throughout their search, acquisition, and operating phases and is a Board Member of Emporos and Kantola.

In this episode, we discuss the critical differences between the COO and CEO role, the search fund model, and deep dive into search fund boards and their life cycle, from the search phase to the acquisition and liquidity event.

We also discuss what it means for Boards Members to work with relatively young CEOs, as well as the role of independent Board Members and alignment with search fund CEOs. Finally, we also talk about Board compensation and why Board members can be the best mentors for a young CEO.

If you want to follow some of the best investors in the lower middle market, check out what Kevin and his team are up to at www.pacificlake.com. You can also follow Kevin and Pacific Lake on LinkedIn or Twitter @koxendine & @PacificLake. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.