Startup Boards (eBook)

Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors

Brad Feld, Mahendra Ramsinghani (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2013
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
9781118516829 (ISBN)

Infos

An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup's board of directors 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. 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, Brad Feld a Boulder, Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist shares his experience in this area by talking about the importance of having the right board members on your team and how to manage them well. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support you, help you understand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold you accountable. 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, and much more Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practical guide to one of the most important pieces of the startup puzzle.

Autor

Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to cofounding Foundry Group--a Boulder, Colorado-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in information technology companies all over the United States--he cofounded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Feld is also a cofounder of Techstars and has been active with several nonprofit organizations. He is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. Mahendra Ramsinghani has over fifteen years of investment and entrepreneurial experience and has led investments in over fifty seed stage companies. He helped draft the underlying legislation for a fund-of-funds for the state of Michigan. For his contributions, Ramsinghani's immigration to the United States was approved under "national interest." He is the author of The Business of Venture Capital (Wiley). His articles and blogs have been published in Forbes, MIT Technology Review, Thomson Reuters, and the Huffington Post. His educational background includes a BE in electronics and MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Pune, India.

Inhalt

FOREWORD ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii

PART ONE: OVERVIEW 1

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction 3

CHAPTER TWO

What Is a Board? 11

PART TWO: BUILDING YOUR BOARD 23

CHAPTER THREE

Creating Your Board 25

CHAPTER FOUR

Recruiting Board Members 49

CHAPTER FIVE

The Formal Structure of the Board 63

CHAPTER SIX

Aligning Your Board 71

CHAPTER SEVEN

Is an Advisory Board Useful? 77

PART THREE: THE BUSINESS OF THE BOARD MEETING 85

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Actual Board Meeting 87

CHAPTER NINE

Motions and Votes 101

CHAPTER TEN

Legal Challenges 111

PART FOUR: COMMUNICATIONS 115

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Managing Ongoing Expectations 117

CHAPTER TWELVE

Trying New Things 131

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Communication Confl icts 135

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CEO Transitions 143

PART FIVE: TRANSACTIONS 151

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Financings 153

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Selling a Company 157

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Going Public 167

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Going Out of Business 173

CHAPTER NINTEEN

Conclusion 179

APPENDIX

Checklist 1: Preparing Your Board Package 183

Checklist 2: Conducting Your Board's Annual Assessment
185

Checklist 3: Question for Your Legal Counsel 187

Checklist 4: Should You Get Directors and Offi cers Insurance?
189

Checklist 5: Stock Option Grants and 409A Valuation 191

NOTES 195

INTERVIEWS 199

BIBLIOGRAPHY 201

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 203

INDEX 205

Excerpt from Startup CEO 211

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.12.2013
• Reihe/Serie: Techstars
• Reihe/Serie: Techstars
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management
• Schlagworte: brad feld, startup boards, startup board member, startup board members, startup board of director, startup board of directors, startup now, startup revolution, dealing with board of directors, dealing with board members, choosing a board of directors, choosing board members, working with a board of directors, working with board members, the role of board of directors, startup life, startup communities, startup now, venture deals • Business & Management • Business & Management Special Topics • Spezialthemen Wirtschaft u. Management • Wirtschaft • Wirtschaft u. Management
• ISBN-13: 9781118516829 / 9781118516829