This presentation outlines the opportunity with the Agile Advisory Board (at the seed- and early-stage). Overall, we find that the traditional boards at the seed and early-stage are often counter-productive.
1. VENTURE51 IS A SEED & EARLY-
STAGE FUND BUILT FOR
ENTREPRENEURS BY
ENTREPRENEURS.
the agile advisory deck
2. CHALLENGES WITH BOARDS
AT THE SEED & EARLY-STAGE
•Top-down tyrannical approach
•Not “Agile” with latent feedback loops
•Lack strategic value
•Dysfunctional arrogance
•Often “panicky” & too revenue focused
•Often about past progress and not future minded
•Not aligned with entrepreneurial realities
*Note: For this presentation we define seed and/or early-stage as a pre Series A company. Once a
company has matured to a Series A (in terms of financing) a traditional Board structure make
more sense.
3. THE NEW DEMANDS OF LEAN
& AGILE STARTUPS
•“Agile” and “real-time feedback loops
Strategic
•Bottom-up and accountable Value Done it
•Strategic to the business Before
•Educated to enable decisions
Accountable Investor
•Focused on customers (not revenue) Rqmts
•Ask, “What do we need to do next?”
•Been in the entrepreneurs shoes
Agile Focused on
Customer Dev
4. GIVE THE FOUNDERS Very important, but
not top of mind
WHAT THEY WANT
Capital
Value Creation Alignment
Founder mitigation Time
Strategic input On-going conversations
Customer development Mentorships
Product expertise Accountability
Go-to-market Growth vs. Exit
Partnerships
Revenue modeling
Legal & admin
5. ALIGNMENT & TRANSPARENCY
YEILD VALUE CREATION
+ =
Value Creation Alignment Transparency
Founder mitigation Time Access to founders
Strategic input On-going conversations Access to challenges
Customer development Mentorships Access to real-time information
Product expertise Accountability Access to the business
Go-to-market Growth vs. Exit
Partnerships
Revenue modeling
Legal & admin
6. ADVISORS ARE BEST POSITIONED
FOR ALIGNMENT & VALUE
•Non-board binding relationship
•Advisors are mentors
•Advisors have been entrepreneurs
•Advisors have invested in entrepreneurs
•Advisors know other advisors
•Advisors are active
•Advisors provide connection
•Advisors are available
•Advisors help facilitate partnership structures
7. THE AGE OF THE AGILE
ADVISORY BOARD Startup & Founders
Focuses on:
Scheduled Customer Validation & Development
Quarterly Meetings Product Development
User Experience
Capital Formation
Founder collaboration
Partnership & Distribution
Agile Feedback Legal
Loops (1:1)
Agile Feedback
Loops (Group)
Agile Advisory Board
Focused on:
Founder mitigation Agile Status
Strategic input Loops (1:1)
Customer development
Product expertise
Go-to-market
Agile Status
Partnerships
Loops (Group)
Revenue modeling
Venture51 & Logged
Legal & admin
8. THE DNA OF A VALUE
Domain Expertise
ADDED ADVISOR Industry and domain expertise in:
Startup Leadership
Product Development
Networked Marketing & Bizdev
Know the right people for:
Partnerships
Distribution Generous
Venture Willing to commit time to
M&A entrepreneurs in order to
Distribution help them succeed.
Advisors
Accountable
They like to get their hands
dirty and strategically
execute in the startup.
Know How to Make Money
They have successfully help build a
company, sold a company or
multiple companies
Startup Burn
Have felt the pressure as an
entrepreneur and help others learn to
thrive in it.