Build Your Board, Build Your Business: The Path to Million Dollar Success Explained

By Barbara E. Clarke

As a CEO charged with elevating your business and ensuring its growth, the path can feel long—and lonely—without the right support. But behind every successful CEO is a board of directors, a diverse group of mentors rich in knowledge and experience, capable of guiding you in your company's development and laying a foundation for you to flourish.

Are you ready to start building?

In Build Your Board, Build Your Business, economist, investor, and entrepreneur Barbara Clarke shows how to take your company to the next level and fulfill your potential by developing the board of directors your company needs for success. Whether you're a CEO now or aspiring to be one, this book is the business companion that will help you organize your intentions and goals, streamline your effort, and utilize the diversity your organization has to offer. Your personal success means more overall success for your company. With worksheets, questionnaires, and exercises to demystify the process of building a board, Build Your Board, Build Your Business is a thought-provoking companion for any business owner's journey to success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781544525747

Book preview

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There are few individuals whose single-handed advice, counsel, and support are catalytic to the growth of a company—providing it the fuel that it needs to break through the atmosphere and make it into the galaxy. Barbara Clarke is one of those people. She understands how to start and build companies, but she also understands the ecosystem and how to help founders successfully navigate it. I can definitively say that were it not for Barbara Clarke, there would have been no Angel Round, no Seed Round, no Series A round, and no company. Having Barbara as an investor and advisor are the greatest gifts that both founders and companies could ever receive.

—Tanya Van Court, CEO and Founder of Goalsetter

As a CEO, founder, and serial VC-backed entrepreneur, I’ve experienced firsthand how critical your company’s board of directors can be to your success or failure. Clarke’s Build Your Board, Build Your Business provides founders with insights and strategies for sourcing the experienced individuals and mentors that will catapult your business to success.

—Kim Folsom, Founder, Chairperson, CEO of Founders First Capital Partners

The most successful entrepreneurs know how to inspire and when to listen. Build Your Board, Build Your Business is a smart, engaging, and essential book for any entrepreneur looking to leverage the power of listening, connection, and insight by building an effective and productive board of directors.

—L. Gennari, Esq., Partner at Gennari Aronson, LLP and book columnist for Boston Business Journal

For any startup founder or soon-to-be founder, Build Your Board, Build Your Business provides invaluable guidance and insights into an often overlooked part of starting a company—governance. Clarke breaks down the daunting task of building and managing a board with a clever and relatable approach, which any startup at any level can use.

—Eli Velasquez, Managing Partner of Investors of Color

As a startup lawyer of thirty years I’ve experienced these issues firsthand hundreds of times and appreciate the practical guidance Barbara offers. She articulates the need for a vibrant, supportive board, provides exactly the right context for the role of the board, and demystifies the process for making a strong board a core component of building a successful high-growth company. Build Your Board, Build Your Business is a gift I send to all of my startup CEOs!

—Matt Kirmayer, Esq., Partner at Perkins Coie LLC

A strong and strategic board can significantly increase the trajectory of a company. Barbara has successfully guided, mentored, challenged, and lifted countless companies as an investor and as a seasoned board member. Build Your Board, Build Your Business is a foundational guide for any founder looking to grow their business.

—Cordero Barkley, Partner and Director of Finance and Investments at TitletownTech

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Copyright © 2022 Barbara E Clarke

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-5445-2574-7

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To all those entrepreneurs who are trying to take the next great leap forward in their business. I hope you find this book a helpful guide through the forest. You do not need to go it alone.

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Contents

Introduction

1. The Journey of Pursuing a Board

2. Assess

3. Network

4. Communicate

5. Honor Legal Duty

6. Organize

7. Refresh and Return

8. Lean on Your Board

Conclusion

Resources

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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Introduction

A couple of years ago, I spoke with a successful CEO whose company had several million dollars in annual revenue. She called me to get feedback on some expansion ideas she had. In the course of the conversation, I was shocked to learn that she did not have an accountant on staff; an outsourced bookkeeper—who she thought was great—managed the finances of her multimillion dollar company. I also learned that the company didn’t have a line of credit for their purchases of product despite their size and years of business.

As we continued to talk, she spoke of her vision and several ideas on how to take her business to the next level. She admitted she needed some advice, though. I told her that she needed to create a board of directors.

She had not created one before because she thought that boards were for bigger companies or for companies that got venture capital. She didn’t realize until we spoke that a board of directors would be the special sauce she needed to take her company to the next level.

She didn’t know how to begin to create a board of directors. Then and there, the idea for this book was formed. I want all CEOs to learn how to create a highly effective board of directors because it is the secret sauce to achieving their next level of success.

This book presents true stories from both my own experience and that of my peers and colleagues. While I’ve changed the names and some of the facts to protect the privacy of the people involved, I’m hoping this book provides enough transparency to make the process of creating a board a manageable endeavor. My goal is to demystify creating a board so all CEOs can take this on. And for those of you reading this who aren’t the CEO yet, you will be well prepared when it is your time.

Fresh Eyes

A company whose CEO I know well wanted to drum up sales for their new business venture, so they hired marketing people to create a website, conduct some public relations, and get the word out. The company was successful in creating awareness about their business, and their revenue increased as they began to attract more customers.

However, when they prepared their tax return at the end of the year, they realized they hadn’t been as profitable as expected. At the beginning of the following year, the company created a board of directors. At the first meeting, the board took the time to review the company’s profit and loss (P&L) statement. A member of the new board who had extensive P&L experience brought a fresh perspective to evaluating the situation; she asked Who is your largest customer? What is your most profitable service? Those questions shone a light on the profitability problem. The CEO could not answer those questions, and everyone immediately understood that while the company was spending a lot of money on marketing and PR, they were reaching the wrong prospects. They needed to identify the kind of customer and the kind of service that would be most profitable. A strong board of directors offers this type of business-changing insight and governance.

Have you ever been hiking where you can see that there’s a beautiful hill close by, but you don’t know which path to take to get there? Is there even a path? You wish you had a guide to show you, or someone who’s walked it before who can share their experience. You know there are many ways to get to the summit, but which way is right for you and your skills?

Your business is like that hill; you’ve reached your high point, but you know there’s more…you’ve seen other businesses achieve more revenue and serve more markets. The truth is, you can’t bring it to the next level without guidance. Imagine if you had your own board of directors, there to assist, guide you, and focus on you and your company. The value of this group cannot be overstated. They can show you the way forward with advice on where to go and, maybe as important, what pitfalls to avoid.

Board members do not become involved in the day-to-day workings of a company. They aren’t doing the accounting, placing orders for supplies, or making sales calls. A board considers the business situation and analyzes it. They apply their knowledge, bring their experience and expertise, and they speak up about things they notice. Maybe inventory is too high, or the receivables are too long. Board members are not setting themselves up at a desk in the company and taking on the receivables problem for the CEO. They observe the situation then guide the CEO, who in turn needs to take action on the advice.

Many entrepreneurs outright reject the idea of a board of directors because they fear they will have to give up control of their company. They imagine a room full of stuffy, old men judging them for their mistakes and telling them how to run their company. Absolutely not! Instead, imagine having a group of specialists, laser focused on you and your company—a group specifically assembled to complement your talents with their expertise. Imagine not feeling alone in your ambition to grow your company but, rather, having stable support and great minds to brainstorm with. Imagine these people also