Yesterday I spent most of my day visiting a company and taking part in their quarterly board meeting. What I love about the board meeting in the context of a startup is the mix of vision, strategy and detailed tactics that a diverse group of people discuss for generally three hours (or in our case yestetday a bit more than that).
On one level there is an anticipation around getting updated on the latest operating metrics of the company. Revenue, deals, customers, and other dashboard metrics that measure the progress the company is making in it’s core business under its current business plan. And the realization that what may have been considered part of the core business a couple months prior at the last board meeting may no longer be considered core — by either management or the board’s directors. Hopefully there is consensus on the topic of what’s “core”.
At the other end of the spectrum is the discussion around the long term strategic path and vision for the company. Questions need to be addresses like:
• “Where can the Company create a unique market offering?”
• “How big can this opportunity be for the Company?”
• “What does the Company need to do to make this vision a reality?”
Ultimately, the Ying and Yang of the board meeting is finding the right balance between these two agendas. In many cases companies are racing hard with heads down to get to profitabilty under their current model, and in today’s economic climate what board member doesn’t want that kind of focus? Conversely, everyone in the room wants to go after the big play and the path that hopefully leads to the bigger exit. So the board meeting becomes an art of balancing this near term Ying with the longer term Yang.
So how did yesterday’s meeting go? I will be honest, navigating a board meeting feels much more like an art than a science. More than once in yesterday’s session I felt both sides of my brain volleying back and forth, always mindful that there are more opportunities for any company to chase than there are time and resources to chase those opportunities, and that in that context there are real pressures to get to profitabilty as quickly as possible.
I look forward to the next board meeting where I can practice this art a bit more.
Originally published on Medium on July 1, 2009. This Substack version is maintained as the canonical archive.