“Advisory Board? I don’t need no stinkin’ advisory board!”
Yeah, you do and we can help you form one so that they actually add value.
Let me give you two examples of how we’ve done this before to give you an idea of what this can look like and why it’s important:
A “Mom and Pop” telecommunications firm that had outgrown its internal ability to see around corners. Compounding this issue was the fact that the Pop in this Mom and Pop had to take early retirement for health reasons. There were a host of things that they needed insights on and our board had the following representation:
A strategy consultant
An IT subject matter expert
A telecommunications vertical user advocate
An M&A expert
With these folks, we met quarterly and mapped out how to reconcile their desire to grow with a lack of capital and a desire to not lose equity (since they didn’t want to take on debt). A real tightrope, but achieved within a couple of years of meeting and action.
A training and learning/development company whose owner wanted to make an exit. His board was constituted with the following folks:
A strategy consultant
His attorney
His wealth manager
An industry subject matter expert
This group helped identify the best time to make an exit, what venues to explore (and which not), and, ultimately, provided advice on how to structure the transaction that resulted in his exit.
Like anything else in life, the value extracted is commensurate with the effort (i.e., planning and execution) that goes into it. What I have seen is one of the most valuable aspects to this exercise is the outside/third-party perspective that these board members bring to the equation.
Stinkin’ or not – you need an advisory board!
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