You are busy and have a company to run. The last thing you want to do is spend a bunch of time preparing materials that don’t bring in more customers and don’t directly make your product better. We get it. We didn’t prepare enough early in our tenure as CEOs also. However, the downside of showing up to a board meeting unprepared is worse. And if you’re heading in that direction, you’ll almost certainly forfeit any actual upside from a good, well-functioning board too. Remember, your board doesn’t see you day-in and day-out running meetings, closing deals, navigating tough conversations, setting up partnerships, or working long hours after everyone else has gone to sleep. Instead, the only window they have to assess how you and your company are doing are the board materials that you prepare, the conversation you have with them before and after the meetings, and the presentation that you deliver in the meetings themselves.
1. Timeline management
Aim to send out your board packet the Friday before your board meeting and work backwards from that date to prepare your materials. This gives each member 3 to 7 days (including one weekend) to read it, depending on which day of the following week your meeting takes place. And consistently following this schedule will reinforce that you’re organized and in control. On the flip side, sending materials out late conveys disorganization and sews doubt. Use this as an easy win to differentiate yourself in the eyes of your board members who very likely also sit on other boards, where materials are routinely sent out late.
2. Calling board members in advance
The first rule of board meetings is: no surprises. The second rule is: no surprises. Get it?
If you’re sharing anything at all that might be surprising, confusing or complicated (which is likely to be the case for almost every meeting), speak with each of your board members 1:1 in advance. This gives you an opportunity to explain the full rationale/concepts and solicit input from each board member before the meeting. This allows each board member to feel heard and included, and also to provide any tough feedback in a 1:1 setting so that they can already be “on your side” during the broader board meeting and ideally help you drive the conversation toward a productive outcome.
There is no company in existence that won’t have to deliver some very bad news to their board at some point. What’s important though is how you deliver it, such that you can still have a productive conversation and show that you’re calm in the face of adversity and still in control of the company.
3. Deck building
First off, it’s worth noting that your board materials don’t have to rely on an actual powerpoint or google slides deck. If you find you’re more easily and efficiently able to communicate with your board members through a memo format for example, then do that. This section assumes you’re building a deck, since it’s the most common format, but the broader points remain the same even if you opt for a memo.
- Deck Length - 30 pages or less, with anything that doesn’t fit deleted or put into an appendix. For early stage companies, board decks might be slightly shorter (under 20 pages) and for later stage companies slightly longer. More than that, it’s unlikely each board member will flip through every slide, let alone read every slide before the meeting.
- Process - Start by creating an outline of your deck with as much detail as you can include yourself. Then hand it off to someone on your team that you’ve anointed as the “deck-maker.” This can be a head of finance/CFO, ops person, etc. They should be strategic thinkers skilled in building slides and data aggregation. Next, send an email to all of the department leads you need input from and clearly assign deadlines that fit your delivery schedule with any questions routed through the deck-maker. The “deck-maker” should be checking in with you regularly throughout the process so that the slides are coming out as you expected and so you can help adjust deadlines and workflows as the slide-making inevitably conflicts with critical and time-sensitive business goals.
- Content - Include the most important and timely issues facing the company and make sure to assign an appropriate number of pages to each issue, depending on it’s level of importance. Here’s a sample deck and below is a rough outline. Also we encourage you to read these posts from Sequoia and Keith Rabois.
- Table of contents/agenda slide to orient readers.
- Update on the key topics that you discussed at the last board meeting with an emphasis on the action items discussed.
- Executive summary that includes wins and challenges across the business.
- Core metrics and KPIs
- Financial update
- Organizational update
- Deep dive on the two to three most important issues
- Any decisions that you need the board to make.
- Conclude with key areas of focus for the company until the next board meeting.
Its been a while since your board members have tuned into your business and this provides continuity between what you discussed at the last meeting and where you are today.
This should provide a snapshot of the businesses most important metrics and what is going well and what is a challenge for the business
Use a consistent format from one meeting to the next to show how you’re tracking against your agreed-upon plan. If you are wondering if there are any metrics that you are not reporting on that you should be please refer to these two posts by Andreesen Horowitz here and here.
Cash balance, cash-out date, financial statements, key financial metrics, and performance vs. plan.
Org chart, operations, product roadmap, engineering, sales pipeline, etc..
Don’t try to cover every aspect of your company in every meeting. Instead, focus on just 2-3 key issues so the board can get into a deeper, nuanced discussion. The majority of the meeting should be spent here.
Figure out in advance if you anticipate needing board input/approval for any decisions and dedicate a slide to that decision. E.g., approving your annual budget, fundraising strategy, etc. Otherwise, you run the risk of running out of time and adjourning without a key takeaway you needed.
Whatever you include here should be included in what you open with at the following board meeting.
4. Circulating your board materials
Along with your board deck and any ancillary attachments, include a short memo (which can just be the body of your email) from you to your board. Use the email/memo to explain how you feel about the business, what you are most concerned about, what you are most excited about. Are you anxious or worried about a competitor? Is there a KPI that is trending in the wrong direction that concerns you? Was this a great quarter? Or despite some missed targets are you feeling particularly optimistic for some reason? This voice over will help keep your board decks nice and tidy for eventual due diligence by future investors, but also give you space to provide greater context to guide the conversation that’s coming up at your board meeting.
References
Board Deck Template (originally authored by Carta and rewritten by Hilltop)
