Before theSkimm, if you asked us what we thought happened in a board meeting it would be some cross between when Richie Rich fights back a coup or when Edward Lewis talks about ‘breaking companies apart’ in “Pretty Woman.” Before he takes her to the opera.
And then we took in some venture money and learned we had a board. It seemed comical at the time — we were still working from home in PJs and had no team. Or revenue. Or had ever been to a board meeting before. But to our first lead investor’s credit (Satya Patel of Homebrew), he told us early on — it is best to formalize board practices early on.
‘Whyyyyy???’ We asked.
‘Trust me,’ he said.
He was right.
At our first board meeting the three of us got bloody marys. Formalized with fun. And we got a debrief on ad industry terminology.
Our second board meeting was with our whole team (all 5 of us) and Satya. We went through our growth roadmap.
When we told one of our advisors that we were doing board meetings quarterly, she said to remember the board works for the company. And that every meeting should end with giving board members homework assignments to follow up on.
It took us about a year to move our board meeting to a conference room and to start creating short board decks, going through a growth and financial dashboard, P&L, and adding more directors.
And now three years later — sh*t got real. Board meetings last 2–3 hours. We have to approve minutes, and options, and vote on budgets and strategic decisions. Decks are long to say the least, lawyers are present, and things are… formal.
The best thing we ever did early on was to start formalizing these processes, even when it seemed silly. Creating a board deck forces you to constantly check in on big picture and sanity check your goals. It helps the company, and eventually a growing team, maintain focus.
The ‘give the board homework’ advice was something we’ve had to remind ourselves over the years, but it makes things much more efficient and effective.
The second thing we have adapted over the years is a monthly (ok sometimes every other month) investor email. We like to send an email to all investors to let them know the status of the business, what we’re working on, what’s been exciting, what’s been hard, and where we need help. We do this for 3 reasons: 1. there should never be surprises for investors; 2. these preclude a lot of investor questions and check ins that can sometimes be distracting; 3. they can help! We never send an email without asking for brand intros or hiring help.
New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day: formalize things for yourself and for your team as early as possible.
