Dan Martell - January 30, 2017


Building An Advisory Board For Your Business


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

203.27245

Word Count

1,673

Sentence Count

114

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.720 How did my eyes look?
00:00:03.440 Beautiful.
00:00:03.960 Yeah, shirt is straight.
00:00:06.240 Yeah, shirt is straight.
00:00:07.360 Dapper.
00:00:08.080 Looking great.
00:00:08.640 All right, collars popped.
00:00:10.240 Collars.
00:00:10.880 All right.
00:00:11.920 iPhone watch is dead.
00:00:22.880 How to build an advisory board for your business.
00:00:25.600 Now, I get asked this question all the time.
00:00:27.960 So here's the deal.
00:00:29.120 If you've ever felt frustrated because it's your first time,
00:00:31.860 you've never built a company before and you really don't know
00:00:33.660 what you should be working on or when you share your idea,
00:00:36.260 people aren't taking you seriously or you don't feel like
00:00:39.660 you have the network to actually be successful in building out
00:00:43.240 your business, what I love about a great advisory board is it
00:00:47.040 allows you to get the answers quick.
00:00:48.680 Like as soon as you have a challenge, you can have the
00:00:50.440 person there ready to answer the questions.
00:00:52.320 It allows other people to see the credibility.
00:00:55.220 If you can convince really great people that they know of to
00:00:57.880 join your team, instant credibility.
00:01:00.140 My favorite part is a built-in network, right, of people.
00:01:05.020 Because if you're trying to hire, you know, lead people,
00:01:07.520 C-level people on your team, having those advisors,
00:01:10.760 part of that is really gonna change the game for you.
00:01:12.520 You know, I've been fortunate enough,
00:01:14.460 I teach a framework called the Dream 100,
00:01:16.300 and part of that is really focusing on the people
00:01:19.160 that are gonna be part of your business, right?
00:01:20.900 If you think that you can climb Mount Everest
00:01:23.280 in your board shorts and sandals with no support,
00:01:26.680 You're crazy, go get your head checked,
00:01:28.180 it's not gonna happen.
00:01:29.220 So an advisory board is just one aspect of this.
00:01:32.120 But, you know, when I was building my company Clarity,
00:01:36.080 that was one of the first things I was,
00:01:37.800 I decided to focus on to build the business,
00:01:40.060 is get a board of advisors,
00:01:41.660 people that have been there before,
00:01:43.020 areas that I felt like I didn't have as much,
00:01:45.060 I wasn't as strong as.
00:01:46.640 I mean, that to me is like,
00:01:47.900 advisors are people that have strengths
00:01:49.600 in areas you're weak at.
00:01:50.700 So, you know, one of my advisors was a guy named Carl Jacob.
00:01:53.740 He actually had built a company back in the late 90s
00:01:56.680 just like Clarity.fm, an expert network for entrepreneurs
00:01:59.920 to get advice over the phone.
00:02:01.860 I had Heaton Shaw, who's one of the top
00:02:03.680 SaaS experts in the world.
00:02:05.120 He built a company called Kissmetrics.
00:02:06.900 He's incredible, definitely follow his blog.
00:02:09.060 Andrew Chen, another guy, he now runs Growth at Uber.
00:02:13.220 He's written over 700 essays on startups and technology.
00:02:17.440 And Mr. Eric Rees, yes, the creator of The Lean Startup.
00:02:21.440 I was super blessed to have these four people
00:02:23.300 as formal advisors.
00:02:24.640 What I wanna share with you guys in this video is how to
00:02:27.580 think about the different aspects of building that team.
00:02:31.640 How do you think about paying them?
00:02:32.880 How do you think about keeping them in touch?
00:02:34.480 Those are the different areas and then what's the value in
00:02:36.780 putting an advisory board together?
00:02:38.680 That's the first, that's what I'm gonna end on.
00:02:40.920 Now, curate is the first C.
00:02:42.700 I want you to write these down.
00:02:44.120 Curate, leave a comment below.
00:02:45.760 Let me know if you have questions.
00:02:47.200 But you wanna curate a great advisory board.
00:02:49.040 So how do you do that?
00:02:50.260 Here's my favorite technique, okay?
00:02:52.060 I'm gonna share one.
00:02:52.860 If you leave a comment below, I might share more.
00:02:54.800 One is go on LinkedIn, search previously worked at
00:02:58.740 and a company that you know the role,
00:03:01.940 so if I was hired, if I needed expertise in sales,
00:03:04.780 I would say, well, who's got the best sales team
00:03:06.480 in the software space?
00:03:07.440 Well, salesforce.com would be a good option.
00:03:10.020 I would search on LinkedIn, previously worked at,
00:03:13.220 salesforce.com, role or title would be VP of sales
00:03:17.020 or director of sales, and it would give me the list
00:03:19.960 of the people that used to do that role at Salesforce.
00:03:22.020 How incredible is that?
00:03:23.300 I've had many entrepreneurs do this
00:03:24.780 and find incredible advisors to join the board
00:03:27.180 because they're not working at that company anymore.
00:03:30.420 They're probably more than willing to take a call
00:03:32.180 to give you advice,
00:03:33.000 and if you build that relation over time,
00:03:34.980 then you can get them involved in your company.
00:03:37.340 Now, the second C for building an advisory board
00:03:39.920 is compensation.
00:03:41.280 How much should you pay them?
00:03:42.420 Now, I have a big problem.
00:03:43.640 If you've ever talked to somebody that said,
00:03:45.660 hey, man, I love what you're doing.
00:03:46.640 I'd love to help you out,
00:03:48.100 but my network is pretty valuable to me,
00:03:50.920 and if I were to help you out, I'd want, you know,
00:03:53.820 probably five to 10% of your company.
00:03:56.020 If somebody says that, send them to this video
00:03:58.820 so I can tell them to screw off because I am not here
00:04:01.620 to have people take advantage of entrepreneurs.
00:04:04.020 There is no level of networks and introductions
00:04:07.520 and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera that's worth
00:04:10.020 that much of your company.
00:04:10.920 It's actually very irresponsible for you as an entrepreneur
00:04:13.320 to ever have somebody for an introduction
00:04:16.220 or even a couple new customers to take that much
00:04:19.220 of equity in your business, so don't, A, stop that.
00:04:23.220 Compensation comes down to this.
00:04:25.620 First level, advisory shares.
00:04:27.620 Usually 0.1%, two, at the most, two percent, okay?
00:04:32.920 Which is very high.
00:04:34.720 I would, you know, I think 0.1, half a percent, a percent,
00:04:39.020 but I mean, these are people that you just feel
00:04:40.820 are gonna be there for, you're gonna pick up the phone,
00:04:42.620 you have their cell number.
00:04:43.920 It's not a two-month thing.
00:04:45.820 It's somebody that's gonna be part of the business
00:04:47.820 for like the next five years, right?
00:04:50.080 And you gotta throttle and if you have three or four
00:04:52.060 or five of these advisors, then you might have to give up
00:04:54.760 total, you know, two to 10% of your business,
00:04:58.100 but they're gonna bring a lot of value
00:04:59.500 and I'm gonna share that at the end of the video.
00:05:00.940 So that's compensation.
00:05:01.960 Next level, if you have a board and you wanna formalize that,
00:05:05.380 you're looking at like 30,000, two, two million dollars.
00:05:08.700 I have a friend, his dad gets paid two million a year
00:05:11.740 to be on a board of a Fortune 500 public traded company.
00:05:15.320 So, that's the range.
00:05:17.280 I think my favorite compensation level is free.
00:05:21.300 And it happens all the time.
00:05:22.560 I mean, people mentor, people give advice.
00:05:24.800 And if you're a good person that's trying to change the
00:05:26.440 world and you're on a mission, people will follow you on that.
00:05:29.460 So I would say that you could spend more time in understanding
00:05:32.540 the impact you want to have in a positive way.
00:05:35.540 And that might help alleviate the need to just straight up pay
00:05:38.280 somebody to give you advice.
00:05:39.880 But those are the key areas for compensation.
00:05:42.380 The third area is communicate.
00:05:44.080 How often should you communicate to a board of advisors?
00:05:46.680 Here's the deal.
00:05:47.620 Once a year you wanna send them a strategy deck.
00:05:49.820 The strategy deck is no different than a pitch deck.
00:05:52.080 It's really saying, here's the business today.
00:05:54.320 Here's what we're gonna accomplish over the next 12 months.
00:05:56.260 Here's the high level aspects.
00:05:58.020 And in the email to the advisors,
00:06:01.040 you ask them to do some work.
00:06:02.500 You say, hey, I'm looking for an introduction
00:06:03.960 to somebody with this kind of skill.
00:06:05.440 I need you, because I know you have experience
00:06:07.580 in this industry, to get on a call with my team
00:06:09.900 to support them.
00:06:10.780 I mean, it was one thing I've always done,
00:06:12.080 even as an investor, was make sure
00:06:13.800 that I helped the growth team of the companies I've invested
00:06:16.400 in execute their plan.
00:06:17.880 So you need to put them to work, okay?
00:06:20.440 So that's the communication.
00:06:21.580 Monthly, minimum, once a year in person.
00:06:26.080 I think that's really important.
00:06:27.440 And then the monthly is via email.
00:06:29.680 It's just a quick update, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
00:06:32.220 Just, here's the trick, man.
00:06:33.420 Always start, okay, with the bad news and on the good.
00:06:37.560 Sounds simple, a lot of people don't do it.
00:06:39.860 Some people just avoid the bad news altogether.
00:06:41.760 So make sure you put that in the email.
00:06:43.300 Now, here's the four benefits
00:06:46.040 of having an incredible advisory board.
00:06:47.980 Number one is credibility.
00:06:49.340 You instantly get credibility on your slide deck,
00:06:52.540 when you're talking to a potential new employee,
00:06:54.080 you can mention these advisors' names
00:06:56.680 and they're recognizable, right?
00:06:58.480 Number two is connections, built-in network.
00:07:00.980 You have people that are ready to go
00:07:02.360 that they can make introductions to.
00:07:03.960 They can help you hire other people.
00:07:05.560 They can make calls to get reference checks done.
00:07:08.220 So you get a built-in network, connections.
00:07:10.920 Three is conversations,
00:07:12.120 having those tough conversations with advisors
00:07:14.620 that have been there before,
00:07:15.900 they're gonna give you guidance
00:07:16.900 that are gonna help you get through those tough times.
00:07:18.960 That's invaluable, so that's a big one, connections.
00:07:21.660 And then four, I think where this all comes together
00:07:24.880 is confidence.
00:07:25.800 When you have those people on your team ready to go,
00:07:30.380 you as an entrepreneur can show up in a way
00:07:32.960 that you just illuminate confidence.
00:07:35.520 You exude confidence for your team,
00:07:38.600 for your potential investors, for your new customers.
00:07:40.680 It's an incredible thing,
00:07:41.820 So be sure to find an incredible board of advisors,
00:07:45.380 you know, curate them, compensate them and be sure to
00:07:48.620 communicate with them in a way that keeps them in the loop.
00:07:51.540 As per usual, I want to challenge you to live a bigger
00:07:53.500 life and a bigger business and I'll see you next Monday.
00:07:56.640 If you like this video, be sure to subscribe to my channel.
00:07:59.140 I would also encourage you to join my newsletter where I share
00:08:02.500 invites to exclusive events and other free training videos.
00:08:05.920 And if you're ready to get going, I've got a couple more
00:08:07.540 videos queued up for you.
00:08:09.340 I'll see you next week.
00:08:11.820 You