CEOs Looking For Board Feedback, Try This

George Roberts

December 30, 2011

At OpenView Partners, a point person plays three roles over the lifetime of a portfolio company:

  1. Investor: this is the least amount of time since we wear this hat during negotiation and due diligence before we invest growth capital in an expansion stage company and then at exit time.
  2. Board Member: this is the role we play during quarterly board meetings, quarterly board update calls in between the board meetings and any other appropriate board activities with the portfolio companies.
  3. Advisor: which is where we spend the majority of our time. Working with the founders, CEOs and their management team on strategy, operational execution and activities related to scaling the management team and the company as a whole.

As a board member we give feedback on a regular basis to the company and their management team but many CEOs struggle to get board feedback that is continuous and actionable with their investors and other board members. That is why when I read Fred Wilson’s blog titled “Continous Feedback,” I wanted to pass it along if you missed it.

It definitely follows the KISS principle, is simple and easy to implement, will always give you feedback and provides actionable items that you can work on with your board to build a great company and reach a great exit.

Hope you enjoy it.

All the best!

G

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.