In this edition of Inside the Boardroom we’re exploring founder mode by bringing together the best startup board advice from around the world based on startup investment and commercialisation stages.

This time around we’re focused on the next step-change period of growth where it makes sense to raise further capital and provide liquidity to your existing shareholders by undertaking an IPO, or if the growth horizon is different or changing, entertain an exit via acquisition/merger where your company is the target.

While these are two very different routes, having a solid management team and board will help you to achieve the (fair) value that you desire, and be able to position you better in negotiations and/or listing preparations. 

This edition of Inside the Boardroom is a sneak preview of our Startup Board Explainer: a guide for founders about what it means to have a board and be a director, and how the board’s role evolves as you scale, to serve your startup best.

In this Startup Board Explainer, you’ll find the 101 of:

• Why you need a board;

• The purpose of the board;

• Where the board sits in your startup company’s structure;

• Legal considerations to be conscious of as a director; and,

• How the board’s role evolves as you scale.

This edition of Inside the Boardroom is Part 2 from last week, where we turned the tables on our Startup Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm to hear about her background and why she loves facilitating the Startup Board Course. In this Part 2, our Head of Startups, Josh Sharma, asks Ashleigh a final question: what’s important for founders to think about when bringing on investors?

It's tough out there to raise at the moment, and not all of us have the luxury of choice when we're fundraising, but whether you’re taking on first-time investment or wanting to be strategic in later stages, here Ashleigh shares her tips to help set yourself up for success from the outset.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Maxine Minter, General Partner at Co Ventures and Co-host of podcast, First Cheque, for the Startup Board Course. Maxine invests exclusively at the pre-seed stage, and having a background as a lawyer, executive coach, founder, and investor, Maxine’s experience offers multi-faceted insights for founders on the startup journey.

Here we share some excerpts on the founder to CEO progression from our broader interview with Maxine where we discussed when founders should start thinking about setting up a board, lessons learned, what good can look like, and how you can do due diligence on potential investors ahead of making that long-term commitment. The full interview is available in the Startup Board Course portal - find out more here.

In this edition, our Startup Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm, shares an excerpt from a longer interview that’s included within the Course Portal with the super Rebecca Wendland, an investor at Folklore Ventures. Bec’s done it all and worked with boards as a founder, investor and consultant, and here Bec shares her insights on the practical realities of board reporting and engagement as an early-stage startup, and how to do this for greatest impact.

Join us for our next cohort and you may just get to experience a closed-door AMA with Bec too.

Finding the right investors to partner with on your journey might not be the easiest thing in the world, but what happens when you do find the right ones and they come to make their investment decision - how do you make sure your company is investable?

Hear from our Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm, as she talks about what ‘being investable’ means and what you can do to make sure nothing is going to trip you up when it comes to bringing on your dream investors. 

When you’re an early-stage startup, does company admin really matter?

Hear from our Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm, and Kirstin Hunter of Techstars as they discuss the case for good company and board hygiene: admin might not seem important in the early stages, but it’s actually protecting your startup's value at the all-important later stages, where it can really matter.

As a founder, is it better to tightly manage what information directors receive, and only reveal the information that you believe will pitch the company in the best light?

Hear from our Board Course Director, Ashleigh Camm, and Jacqui Purcell from TDM Growth Partners on why there’s so much more to be gained when you don’t treat your board meetings like a PR campaign.