Building an Entire Investable Team It is an oft-repeated truism that angels and venture capital firms invest in teams more than they invest in ideas and technologies. The team, Board, and Advisory Board are extremely valuable. This roundtable will provide investors’ perspectives on this dilemma, along with a discussion of other team-related topics, Board and Advisory Board building strategies and management. www.thecapitalnetwork.org

1. Building an Entire Investable Team:
An Entrepreneur’s Perspective
The
Capital
Network
July
10,
2013
Win
Burke
President
&
CEO
iGetBeBer,
Inc.

2. Topics
• The
Management
Team
• The
Board
of
Advisors
• The
Board
of
Directors
• Board
–
Management
Team
Dynamics
I
agree
with
Bob’s
comments
and
will
not
repeat
his
content,
but
rather
will
augment
them
from
an
entrepreneur’s
perspec@ve.
Bob
and
I
agree
that
there
is
no
single
right
way,
and
there
are
many
possible
right
ways
depending
on
circumstances
and
the
specific
people
involved.
Offered
for
considera@on
are
generali@es,
to
which
there
are
many
excep@ons,
but
which
represent
a
framework
for
implementa@on.

3. The
Management
Team

4. First
my
own
experience…
• Early
Career/Midsize
and
Large
Companies
– Computer
Scien@st/SoMware
Engineer
– Product
Management,
Marke@ng,
Sales,
Services
• Early
Stage
Company
Career
– iGB
is
my
7th
early
stage
company
– A
founder
of
3
– VP
of
S&M
of
2,
CEO
of
5
– 4
companies
acquired,
1
IPO
(Have
made
many
mistakes,
hopefully
learned
not
to
make
them
again)

5. What
I
have
learned…
• Investors
invest
in
a
team
first,
then
product/
market
– Mix
of
vision
and
experience
– Good
team
chemistry
• Clear
roles,
who’s
in
charge
• Best
if
have
worked
together
before
• Be
credible
to
investors
that
team
can
execute
– Sales,
CFO
should
be
experienced
– Complete
team
• If
not
complete,
VCs
may
suggest
fill-­‐ins

6. What
I
have
learned…
• “Bump
in
the
road”
capable
– Flexible,
resilient,
adap@ve
when
things
go
wrong
– Can
absorb
personal
financial
constraints
• Impact
of
team
experience
– Angels
are
more
likely
to
accept
“young
and
fresh”
– VCs
are
more
likely
to
want
to
know
that
team
can
execute
• VCs
prefer
repeat
entrepreneurs
(“been
there,
done
that”)
• Kaufmann
Ins@tute
study
says
that
entrepreneurs
over
age
of
55
have
2x
success

7. The
Board
of
Advisors

8. What
I
have
learned…
• Industry
luminaries/experts
who
believe
in
you
signal
to
investors
that
you
are
real
– Signal
to
customers
and
partners
as
well
– Fill
in
industry
holes
of
management
team
• Industry
knowledge,
experience,
contacts
(!!!)
– How
to
recruit
• Remember
that
they
may:
– Tend
to
feel
comfortable
with
what
they
have
done
rather
than
what
could
be
done
– Have
conflic@ng
egos/agendas
(important
to
manage
group
dynamics)

9. The
Board
of
Directors

10. What
I
have
learned…
• A
func@onal
Board
is
an
asset,
a
dysfunc@onal
Board
can
be
a
fatal
liability
(change
it!)
• Try
to
choose
(may
influence
choice
of
investors):
– A
mix
with
opera@onal
as
well
as
financial
experience,
preferably
within
your
industry
– Experience
with
Boards
and
how
they
should
work
– Can
work
together
collabora@vely
instead
of
confronta@onally;
good
chemistry
and
dynamics
– Not
all
in
lock-­‐step,
but
generally
on
the
same
page
– How
to
recruit

11. Board
–
Management
Team
Dynamics

12. What
I
have
learned…
• Trust,
communica@on
are
essen@al
– Communicate
oMen
and
transparently
– But,
don’t
communicate
every
problem
• only
those
that
stay
problems,
need
assistance,
or
are
of
fiduciary
import
• Management
team
should
agend
Board
mee@ngs
– Need
exposure
to
Board
for
two-­‐way
trust
• But
can
be
shocked/demo@vated
by
frank
Board
discussions
– Present/discuss
their
part
of
the
business,
but
not
stay
for
internal
Board
discussions

13. Thank
you!
QuesSons?