Ways an Advisory Board
Can Help Your Startup
Tom Walker
Accelerate
Boards of advisors can provide insight,
offer suggestions, and be a sounding
board when you need to talk.
Advisory boards, unlike boards of directors, do not
carry legal or fiduciary responsibilities.
They are there voluntarily to help you.
Advisory board
members can
help you
fill in the gaps
in your
experience
and expertise.
This is an opportunity to supplement the talents and skills of the founding team with experts who have different functional backgrounds.
Advisors can help you with potential customers.
Concept and Seed Stage companies have to learn as much as possible
about the companies and markets they plan to serve. A warm introduction
by a mutual acquaintance is always preferable to a cold call.
connect
Advisors will tell you when
you are heading down the
Entrepreneurs can be stubborn. They make mistakes.
An advisor who is there because he or she wants to help
you succeed may be able to stop you before you take the
next wrong step. If not, they can help you figure out, based
on their experience, how to clean up a mess.
wro
ng
path.
Inviting a trusted person
to participate in your
advisory boardexpands andstrengthensthe relationship.
““
Even if the individual
has to turn you down,
they will appreciate
being asked.
If they aren’t able to
devote the time to be on
your board, maybe they
will make themselves
available for periodic
telephone calls.
Learning to work effectively
with an advisory board gives
you hands-on practice for
learning to work with a board
of directors.
As you consider building an advisory
board, think about people you
trust to ask the questions you
haven’t thought of yet.
It’s a smart way to plan for success.