Board, With Brad Feld

A key (and often undervalued) element in a startup journey is the board of directors. As I’ve written about previously, “The mythology of renegade founders building massively successful companies is unescapable. But of course nothing happens in a vacuum…One key element, easily overlooked or misunderstood, is the board.”

Boards at their core serve a governance function. But when executed well, they can do so much more to help coach founders & executives, provide unique business opportunities from their networks, and help build the company. These functions are often all the more important in global startups operating outside Silicon Valley, as well as those operating in critical industries (like fintech) where regulatory compliance is a must and doing right by customers’ money is of paramount importance. 

That’s why I was so excited to discuss Board best practices with Brad Feld, as well as his and Mahendra Ramsinghani’s new book: Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors. For this piece, I compiled questions from a range of global investors and industry experts.