Every company uses this group differently, but I recommend building a group of individuals who you believe are smart, passionate, experienced, and willing to take your calls! Once you’ve put this group together, you reach out to them individually and ask for their advice as you work through the day to day operations of your business. They can be incredibly insightful, especially if you ask them for advice on topics they know well.

Once every few months or weeks (depending upon your company stage and board interest) get everyone in a room for 2-3 hours. If you’re putting together a strong group of advisors, this should be damn near impossible! Not because they don’t want to do it, but getting 5-6 successful people in a room means juggling some crazy schedules. Let’s just say we manage to pull it off by scheduling about a month in advance and giving lots of options.

I’m not going to get into the details of who should make up your advisory board - thats really up to you and what you want to do with your business. I would like to say one thing on the topic however. Build your board out of people who won’t bullshit you. No room for this attitude in an advisory board meeting. You need people who will give an honest and clear assessment of how they see your problems and potential resolutions. Just because their “name” is impressive to add to the corporate resume doesn’t meant that they will be helpful in anyway to your business.

Thankfully our board is merciless. Think of them as the kid who would kick you when you were down, but smile when they did it!

When we do get a chance to pull up and meet with our advisory board, it is really a wonderful breath of fresh air. Anytime you can get some of the smartest people you know in one room, you really have to feel good about what you’re doing and the fact that they are willing to spend their time with you.

Of course they questioned our assumptions, debated our strategy, argued points, and discussed the thought process, but they did the whole thing in an effort to help build a successful company. There really is nothing like unfettered access to brilliant minds who want you to succeed.

Today we discussed production, sales, and investment - and managed to have lunch somewhere in between. It was a lot to tackle in two hours and took us longer than expected (big surprise). However we were able to discuss some difficult issues as we struggle with challenges in each of those areas. Nothing is easy at a startup, but being able to have great people help you work through your opportunities is just invaluable.

Thanks to our board. Thanks for putting up with our incessant requests and providing guidance and support when we need it.

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