Startup Boards

InhaltsangabeFOREWORD ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii PART ONE: OVERVIEW 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction 3 CHAPTER TWO What Is a Board? 11 PART TWO: BUILDING YOUR BOARD 23 CHAPTER THREE Creating Your Board 25 CHAPTER FOUR Recruiting Board Members 49 CHAPTER FIVE The Formal Structure of the Board 63 CHAPTER SIX Aligning Your Board 71 CHAPTER SEVEN Is an Advisory Board Useful? 77 PART THREE: THE BUSINESS OF THE BOARD MEETING 85 CHAPTER EIGHT The Actual Board Meeting 87 CHAPTER NINE Motions and Votes 101 CHAPTER TEN Legal Challenges 111 PART FOUR: COMMUNICATIONS 115 CHAPTER ELEVEN Managing Ongoing Expectations 117 CHAPTER TWELVE Trying New Things 131 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Communication Confl icts 135 CHAPTER FOURTEEN CEO Transitions 143 PART FIVE: TRANSACTIONS 151 CHAPTER FIFTEEN Financings 153 CHAPTER SIXTEEN Selling a Company 157 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Going Public 167 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Going Out of Business 173 CHAPTER NINTEEN Conclusion 179 APPENDIX Checklist 1: Preparing Your Board Package 183 Checklist 2: Conducting Your Board's Annual Assessment 185 Checklist 3: Question for Your Legal Counsel 187 Checklist 4: Should You Get Directors and Offi cers Insurance? 189 Checklist 5: Stock Option Grants and 409A Valuation 191 NOTES 195 INTERVIEWS 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 203 INDEX 205 Excerpt from Startup CEO 211

Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to cofounding Foundry Group-a Boulder, Colorado-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in information technology companies all over the United States-he cofounded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Feld is also a cofounder of Techstars and has been active with several nonprofit organizations. He is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. Mahendra Ramsinghani has over fifteen years of investment and entrepreneurial experience and has led investments in over fifty seed stage companies. He helped draft the underlying legislation for a fund-of-funds for the state of Michigan. For his contributions, Ramsinghani's immigration to the United States was approved under "national interest." He is the author of The Business of Venture Capital (Wiley). His articles and blogs have been published in Forbes, MIT Technology Review, Thomson Reuters, and the Huffington Post. His educational background includes a BE in electronics and MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Pune, India.

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