Writing a sharp executive summary for a board meeting requires input from multiple stakeholders and more than a little research.
People often view it as an unpleasant chore, but when done well, these sessions provide founders with an opportunity to hone their storytelling skills, engage their team, and extract more value from investor relationships.
Amy Cheetham, a partner of Costanoa Ventures, shared 11 board slides with TC+ that demonstrate effective ways to communicate performance, pipeline details, hiring and team growth, and other key priorities.
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“The slides in this article are not intended to be a complete board game,” she writes. “They are examples of true early stage board slides from seed and Series A stage companies who have done a great job of educating their boards and sparking constructive discussion.”
Tapping your team to prepare for a board meeting is a great way to combat “CEO Syndrome,” a horrible condition that encourages many founders to believe they are the hardest-working person in the room.
Playing the hero is hard work! Let your team leaders speak for themselves instead of showing off.
Thank you very much for reading,
Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, MinRegion+
@your protagonist
3 questions CISOs expect from you during a security pitch
Image Credits: DNY59 (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
No one sells security solutions in the room: CISOs are more likely to make decisions after being pitched initially after gaining the support of other decision makers.
“The CISO deciding whether or not to onboard your product has less time, budget and staff than in years past, and your pitch has to be so much better to make the cut,” writes Nancy Wang (GM and director of engineering, AWS Data Protection, venture partner, Felicis Ventures) and Steve Zalewski (former CISO Levi Strauss, founder of S3 Consulting.)
In this article, the duo asks and answers three questions CISOs will consider before signing a contract. First and foremost?
“How does your solution help me sell more X?”
A pot of gold on the cutting edge of DevOps and generative AI?
Image Credits: Andriy Onufriyenko (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
Is generative AI ready to help humans manage increasingly complex tech stacks?
Anna Heim interviewed Rona Segev, co-founder and managing partner of VC firm TLV Partners, to learn more about AI-related startups helping to advance DevOps.
“I think the next really interesting phase is those very, very strong AI engines will help us properly manage the infrastructure and manage the configuration,” she said.
“It will take a while, but I think this will be a real breakthrough in the future.”
How this investor widens his net by refusing hot intros
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I avoid saying the obvious, but in case you hadn’t realized – venture capital is a relationship game. However, if you already have a second-degree connection that is an investor, it’s not that hard to get a meet.
Warm introductions are a form of currency in tech circles, but GoAhead Ventures “claims that it will hear everyone’s pitch, no matter where in the world you are or what you’re building, as long as you’re a pre-seed or seed company “, reports Haje Jan Kamps.
There is only one condition: “They insist on a video pitch.”
It’s never too late to align product-market fit metrics with your company’s values
Image Credits: Haje Kamps/MinRegion
At MinRegion Early Stage, Dominic Madori-Davis spoke with David Thacker, a general partner at Greylock, about how he defines product-market fit and why it’s just one form of social proof investors are looking for.
“It doesn’t mean you’ve launched a product and scaled it to millions of customers and users,” Thacker said.
“What I’m looking for is an appearance that what you’ve built resonates with a range of customers.”
Your site needs more than just one user experience
Image Credits: John Lund (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
In the beginning, most founding teams focus on building solid sales funnels, but customer segmentation can be achieved during the acquisition process – if you know what questions to ask.
Getting new users to share data about their past product experiences or future goals is the first step in creating customer personas, says growth expert Jonathan Martinez, who identifies several variables that can help drive retention and conversion.
“It’s true that while you can add some extra friction with questions about your lead form or onboarding flow, it will greatly benefit your consumers’ overall experience.”