Building an Advisory Board

Set Some Good Objectivesyou trust and who trust you,know stuff that you don't and who know what you will need,are excited by your vision and mission,will be reasonably responsive to your requests for help.Using an Advisory Board as a Promo Tool Will BackfireAdvisers and advisersHow to Get the Best from Your AdvisersHow Many and What Type?How to CompensateThe adviser should be compatible with the investors and comparable in level of experience (so that the adviser can work with the investors as a peer). Having an adviser on the board of directors who is neither an entrepreneur nor an investor but who only wants the venture to succeed is a good idea. Post-financing, you won't have the same freedom of action (hint: so get them pre-financing).Their equity options will be part of the management team's option allocation. So, they won't get the same 1 to 2% that an adviser would get pre-financing.Transactional or Deliverables Compensation?What About the Investor's Pre-Built Networks?An adviser from the investor's network will tend to favor the investor (if there is ever a conflict),You will get better terms if you bring your own network rather than rely on their network.Discuss