12/07/2004

More Advisory Board Tips

From Deseret News Articles:

"Following are a few ideas in creating your own advisory board.

Select only those individuals who have the specific talent that you need. Avoid family and friends. Decide what you want in an adviser ahead of time, interview them just like you would a new key employee, and don't be afraid to say, 'No thank you.'

Make sure that they have time to work with you. Recruiting a successful businessperson who has no time will not solve any of your problems.

Hold regular meetings. Distribute materials several days prior to the meeting and ask advisers to be prepared to comment on key issues. Manage the meeting to extract as much information as possible. Too often, management expends too much time in presentation, leaving little time for the advisers to strategize on the issues.

Use your advisers between regular meetings. The more that you are able to involve them in your business, the better they will understand the issues and the greater the benefit to the firm.

Motivate advisers with stock options. You typically do not need to compensate them with a cash payment. Give them incentive to help you build the long-term value of the company.

Rotate the advisory board. Establish a term of appointment. You can always renew the term for a valuable adviser, but you need a method to remove advisers who do not perform."

Via Paul Allen: Internet Entrepreneur.