Our guide on best practices in board meetings.

Balderton was originally founded in 2000 by group of investors from Benchmark Capital with the idea of bringing the US venture capital model to Europe.

While the firm has evolved significantly since then, we are still strong believers that venture investing is about partnering with entrepreneurs for the long-run and that the best investments are made as a team and not as a group of individual investors.

So, board meetings are of paramount importance. They give a group of key people the opportunity to form a team to discuss topics of strategic importance and help a business overcome their inevitable challenges.

But it’s not always that simple.

Board meetings need to be designed, organised and conducted effectively. Like everything, that takes time and practice, and a healthy dose of experience.

However, the first time many entrepreneurs step into a boardroom they are expected to run it, and run it well, as CEO.

That’s why we put this deck together – to share best practice and to enable all entrepreneurs to run great board meetings.

Over the years we have invested in over 200 companies and had the pleasure of serving on many boards. So we’ve learned a thing of two about boards.

This report covers:

• Checklist of key questions
• Events and deadlines
• Advice on board members
• Preparing your board deck
• Meeting length, and frequency
• Content of board meetings
• Culture in board meetings

Our partnership includes founders of billion-dollar, public software companies, former executives from Uber, Dropbox, SAP, Google and Yahoo, and the former global Head of Equity Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs.

Importantly, we are an equal partnership, meaning that we all share equally in each investment we make.

Because of this, as members of the Balderton portfolio, you will benefit from the full range of our experience rather than just the partner on your board.

ADVICE TO BOARD MEMBERS:

Four to seven members is a good range. Larger boards become more appropriate later, but more than ten can be cumbersome.

Rob Moffat

It’s important to have people who are committed and pull their weight. New fundraises are often good times to restructure.

Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen

Get industry non-execs in early, before Series B. The shareholder lens is not always the company lens.

Tim Bunting

Involve other C-level management where appropriate

James Wise

Gender diversity is a strength and results in better conversations

Suranga Chandratillake

Don’t engineer for political balance, or worry about odd or even numbers. It’s all about getting the right people around the table.

Jerome Misso