GGV's founding partner, Vinnie Lauria, on how to run great board meetings. Presented at Wild Digital 2018 in Jakarta.

1. Secret To A Great Board Meeting
Vinnie Lauria
@vlauria

2. @vlauria
Preparing for a board meeting
● Consider all stakeholders
● Leverage investors/board for
high-level strategy
● Convey concise direction
● Anything major that should
be introduced before?
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3. @vlauria
A board meeting is not just a deck
● Think “two-way”
● Make the most of everyone in
the room
● Investors share lessons from
other startups
● Include all high-level stats.
Move deep stats to a
supplemental data pack.
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4. @vlauria
Common Mistakes
● Don’t allocate enough time (or
run over time)
● Treat meeting as one-way
(you’re not Steve Jobs)
● Don’t send board materials
ahead of time
● Haven't thought of what to get
out of everyone in the room
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5. @vlauria
Timeline before a Board Meeting
● 2-3 mo: Set date/time/location
● 2-3 weeks:
○ Prepare Deck
○ Practice run-through w/ Sr
team
● 1 week: Send out the Deck
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6. @vlauria
Timeline during Board Meeting
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● Welcome/Onboarding - Introduce new board members. See that everybody knows
each other.
● Review - Any topics to follow-up from last board meeting? What action items where
completed, missed or deferred?
● CEO’s Big-Picture Overview - Highlights of good news and major concerns
● Detailed Reporting - Review metrics over the past quarter & projections going forward
● Competition - How does the market stackup? Strengths and weaknesses?
● Working Session(s) - Pick one or two topics that are strategically important, on which
board input would be valuable.
● Company-Building - Focus on what’s being done to grow and strengthen the
company. Like: product roadmap, staffing plans, new offices/new markets….
● Closed Session - (Formalities, stock option grants, etc.)

7. @vlauria
What makes for a good deck?
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● Tell a story
● Highlight big picture news & major concerns
● Review past metrics & future projections
● Go over company-building efforts and news
● Team updates
● Get feedback
● Compressed PDF for mobile, aim for <6mb
TIP: Too much to report?
Send two pdfs: the board deck + a “supplemental data pack” full of figures & details.

8. @vlauria
No Surprises
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● Everyone should know what’s up when they arrive
● Don’t delay sending out materials 1 week early.
○ If you’re missing some data, put in a placeholder and add it for the
meeting.
● Don’t misrepresent anything.
● No big last-minute changes to the board deck or meeting plan …
unless something happens that’s truly earth-shaking.
TIP: For any controversial or super-sensitive issue: Discuss it with each board member
individually, a month in advance.

9. @vlauria
Make the meeting run smooth and easy—
so the tough stuff gets done
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● Be rested, rehearsed, and relaxed.
● Have somebody take notes & audio-record the meeting
● Make sure the most important topics get due time—including time for questions
and comments from the board.
● Don’t get hung up on minor details, like talking too long about the cool features of
your new product.
● Don’t let people take over the meeting by creating big debates over small issues.
● Don’t run long. Finish on time.
TIP: Lunch before/after is a great way to build deeper relationships with your board
and between members.

10. @vlauria
After the board meeting
● Send out meeting minutes,
include action items
● Ask for feedback - How could
the meetings be better? Ideas
for next time?
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11. @vlauria
Credits
Special thanks to SlidesCarnival who
made and released this presentation
template for free.
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12. Thank you
wvvw.goldengate.vc
@vlauria