How to Manage Your Board of Directors

The Startup Help Desk

In this episode we answer questions about managing your board of directors. If you have investors, you have a board and managing your relationship with them is one of the most important, and hardest, jobs you have. We are here to help! In this episode we answer questions including:

• How do I handle a board member who is ignoring me?
• What do I do if my board tells me to fire someone?
• How do we recover from a big fight at a board meeting?

All of these questions were submitted by listeners just like you. You can submit questions for us to answer on our website TheStartupHelpdesk.com or on X/Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!
Reminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.

Q1: How do I handle a board member who is ignoring me?
There are three potential issues:
1: You’re not growing fast enough for them to care.
2: They have bigger problems at the moment.
3: You are not designing your board meetings to make them effective.
The board is not there to ask questions. They work for the company. Make it easy for them to contribute. Be transparent about the problems and opportunities and where they can support each. By showing them the most interesting problems in the business and giving them a stake in the resolution, you have a good chance of improving engagement.
Talk to your board members 1-on-1 outside of meetings in order to further remove obstacles from their participation.
Q2: What do I do if my board tells me to fire someone?
When approached by the board member in this way, avoid being reactive. Ask questions before responding so that you can more completely understand their perspective. What’s the need? Are they worried that the company is not growing fast enough?
This usually means the board has lost faith that this individual can hit their goals. It might also mean they have lost faith in you. The board craves predictable, positive results. Whether or not this individual is “working hard” doesn’t matter. Make sure you understand this board member’s motivation and the real problem they are trying to solve with their recommendation.
You will likely need to make some changes and/or start hitting your goals.
Whether you agree or disagree with their request, acknowledge their intent and be clear about what your decision is moving forward.
Q3: How do we recover from a big fight at a board meeting?
Investors disagree all the time - that’s why you want more than one! Don’t try to pick a side. Stop the fight from distracting the meeting too much and agree to address the topic further afterwards.
Schedule 1-on-1 time after the meeting to make sure both sides feel heard. Understand the root cause of the disagreement. You don’t need to identify who was “right or wrong” in the dispute. Instead, ask them to keep the board meeting discussions civil and focused on productive conversations.
Lastly, do not worry about making investors happy. Worry about making them money.