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A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors

Second Edition

Brad FeldMatt BlumbergMahendra Ramsinghani

Copyright © 2022 by Brad Feld, Matt Blumberg, and Mahendra Ramsinghani. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Feld, Brad, author. | Blumberg, Matt, author. | Ramsinghani, Mahendra, author.

Title: Startup boards : a field guide to building and leading an effective board of directors / Brad Feld, Matt Blumberg, Mahendra Ramsinghani.

Description: Second edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022010446 (print) | LCCN 2022010447 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119859284 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119859307 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119859291 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises—Management. | Boards of directors. | Entrepreneurship.

Classification: LCC HD62.5 .F44 2022 (print) | LCC HD62.5 (ebook) | DDC 658.1/1—dc23/eng/20220304

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010446

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010447

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: © Ani_Ka/Getty Images

I was honored when Brad, Matt, and Mahendra asked me to write the Foreword for the second edition of Startup Boards . As the CEO of Him for Her, I've worked closely with Brad and Matt. They are iconic leaders who have done much to promote entrepreneurship. I also read the first edition of Startup Boards and found it to be a helpful outlay for venture-backed boards, so I responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!”

The world has changed immensely since the first edition of the book came out in 2013. Today, boards deal with increasingly complicated issues, including remote work, the great resignation, pandemics, racial injustice, climate change, and social responsibility (Environmental, Social, and Governance, ESG). We now have more diversity in our board members, but not nearly enough.

It was immediately apparent to me, others, and most importantly to Brad, Matt, and Mahendra that the book's first edition had a significant flaw. The stories were all told from a single voice—same race, same gender, same age and thus missing the richness that the best modern boards today reflect. With a good amount of humility, Brad admitted that the book in this state wasn't acceptable, nor was it an accurate representation of startup boards. And then, Brad did what he does so well: he worked hard to change the narrative by spending extra time learning, engaging in many new conversations to expand his network, and broadening the diversity of the people whose stories were in the book. It's not easy to operationalize the intention to make diversity a reality. Extending networks requires leaders to spend the time and energy to find resources outside what they already know and isn't something that can be delegated.

This edition has more voices telling stories from different perspectives. Because of this, I hope that a broader audience will find interest in this book, its stories, and the roles of CEO, founder, investor, and board member. The future we face demands that the brightest, most passionate, and most engaged people from all backgrounds work together—not a select, similar few.

I've often heard the phrase, “You can't be what you can't see.” While it's easy to think of the phrase as something applicable to role models for kids, it's equally valid for the world of business, professions, and academics. Nowhere in the corporate world are things more cloaked under a veil of secrecy than in the boardroom. Few people ever get the opportunity to “see” the inside of a boardroom or participate in a board meeting. And when conjuring up an image of a typical board member, most envision a 62-year-old White male who was previously a CEO or CFO or an investor who sits on many, perhaps too many, boards as part of an investment firm. While these are familiar images, they aren't the complete picture, and the landscape is changing. For example, you'll see a story from me in these pages. I'm a seasoned product executive who joined her first board in her forties.

Startup Boards shines at demystifying the startup boardroom. It provides readers with an insider's account of board issues, dynamics, and challenges. By breaking down exactly what a board of directors does, what a board member is, what the job entails, and all the scenarios accompanying it, many executives—of all backgrounds—can start to see themselves in this role. In addition, a new section of the book provides the details of getting that first board seat, so readers who want to have a board role can benefit.