Startups: October 2011 Archives

Recently an entrepeneur asked me about holding board meetings, and what kinds of things are discussed at them. I sent him these most excellent posts:

Running More Effective Board Meetings at Startups by Mark Suster

Here are some favorites from Brad Feld's blog:

Ideal Board Meetings

Board of Directors: The Agenda

Great Board Meetings

Board Meetings - Do The Formal Stuff First

Sample Board Meeting Minutes

I also had this outline of a typical board meeting. Here are some of the usual topics discussed:

1. Administrative and Legal (Chairman & Atty)
   1. Status of Prior Minutes.
   2. Status of Prior Consents.
2. Financials - Review & Update (CFO/CEO)

3. Operations Update (CEO)

4. Sales Update (CEO)

5. Marketing Update (CEO)

6. Staffing Update (CEO)

7. [Status of any Company Disputes] (CEO, VP, Atty)

8. Compensation Considerations (CEO, CFO)

9. Strategic/Business Alliance and General Business Update (CEO)

10. Calendar
    
    
    
    1. Board and Committee Calendar Review.
       
    2. Annual Shareholders Meeting.
       
    
    
11. Other Business (All)

12. Adjourn