Hey Brad- interesting post. My immediate reaction was, "do you feel the same way about the senior exec team?"

I remember very clearly having a pretty one-way relationship w/ *most* of the member of the board at the startup I was involved in. There was one board member that really hung around and wanted to mentor both me and the engineering side — but really most of the board interaction was "here are your goals; hit em or we find your replacement" kind of talk. That talk never really *bothered* me all that much because I'm such a sales-oriented person, but in hindsight, the idea that I could've turned around to the board member that actually said that to me once and hand HIM an assignment just never even occurred to me.

anyway – valuable stuff for founders and (i hope) the senior exec teams at startups.

Great reminder, thanks Brad. In many ways, Mark's original post and this useful add-on can be taken as: don't forget that your investors are actually part of the management team and need to be involved that way (communication back and forth, expectations set and followed up on). After all, if a lean startup is to make the most of all its resources, actively engaging investors might be one of the most important moves a CEO can make.

The obstacles to doing this well aren't all that different than they are for managing an executive team, the guidelines for which are simple but hard — and you and Mark have nailed two big ones with communication and involvement/accountability. One nit: based on my experience, I'd make sure this conversation starts BEFORE the team is formed (i.e., before the investor is on board) and would do most of the early "homework assignments" one-on-one, encouraging people to report their own results in the group setting. Unless people are used to being held accountable, trying to set this standard in a group setting with a team that meets infrequently can produce some false starts. But that's a nit. Following your advice (and Mark's) will put startups two big steps ahead of their competitors.

"you miss 100% of the shots you don't take"…..generally speaking, board members, mentors, advisors, etc. all want to help. but if you don't ask you wont get. as Brad suggests, ending each Board meeting with a quick review of assigned actions can go a very long way; start simple, 1 action item per participant. after a few meetings, the CEO can begin to introduce more strategic, high value, action items. of course, in keeping with accountability, make sure the CEO has some material actionable items as well…

Hey Brad- interesting post. My immediate reaction was, "do you feel the same way about the senior exec team?"

I remember very clearly having a pretty one-way relationship w/ *most* of the member of the board at the startup I was involved in. There was one board member that really hung around and wanted to mentor both me and the engineering side — but really most of the board interaction was "here are your goals; hit em or we find your replacement" kind of talk. That talk never really *bothered* me all that much because I'm such a sales-oriented person, but in hindsight, the idea that I could've turned around to the board member that actually said that to me once and hand HIM an assignment just never even occurred to me.

anyway – valuable stuff for founders and (i hope) the senior exec teams at startups.

god why?

thank you, i like it! http://www.itemgarden.com http://www.aion-gold.eu

Brad, you blew it: Showing your mother's accomplishments and picture, no one's going to blame her!

For what a CEO is supposed to do, let's see the ten top tasks, each of which should be at least 90% of the CEO's job:

(10) At the board meeting, have a good answer to the question, "You have $1.5 million in the bank. Now what are you going to do to make money?"

(9) "When you're out of money, you're out of business" — make sure don't run out of money.

(8) Do well hiring people smarter than he is.

(7) Do well at the work unique to the company and also at 'the vision thing' for the future.

(6) Lead and motivate the workers.

(5) Do well at CEO Job One — fund raising.

(4) ABC — always be selling.

(3) Prepare the board meeting info stack and get it to the board members at least a week before the meeting.

(2) Be obsessed with the product.

And for the number one task of the CEO:

(1) Give the board members assignments and give grades at the next board meeting.

Gee, how 'bout just make money? Is it enough to make, say, a lot of money?

For the assignments, how 'bout the board members helping with important work the board meeting was interrupting, uh, making money, e.g., selling ads, or if not that, then helping with the product, e.g., writing software? Uh, do board members write software? A server running SQL Server quit: Repair it, get the data current, get it back online? Shop for dirt cheap commercial space with electric power from two grids and 10 GbE? Plug together servers from stacks of motherboards, processors, memory sticks, disk drives, power supplies, CD readers, and mid-tower cases?

Can't write software? Okay: How 'bout holding board meetings via Twitter?

Lacking that, how 'bout board meetings starting at about 11 PM in a private dining room in the back of a bar, with lots of beer and Victoria's Secret models? SI Swimsuit models? With voting by the board on the better collection of models? Or, with just pictures but extra beer? Or have the board vote on who's prettier, your mother or Sarah Palin? With still more beer!

The who does what by when for board members. This is expected in the non-profit world, your board members are the ones that are out there working "it" in all aspects that need work! What an excellent post on getting VCs on board!