Libin: Most startup boards are stateless, but Roelof Botha maintains context
Phil Libin · 20VC: Evernote & mmhmm Founder Phil Libin on Why We are Beginning a Multi-Trillion Dollar Restructuring of the World, Why Shortcuts are the Biggest Mistakes Startups Make & The Future of Video and The Unbundling of Zoom · Jan 25, 2021 · at 37:19
Phil Libin, co-founder and CEO of mmhmm and former CEO of Evernote, reflects on board member dynamics and names Sequoia partner Roloff Botha as the best board member he has worked with.
0:00 / 0:30exact quote · 30.9s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Most boards' conversations are totally stateless, meaning that the board members walk in, and they don't remember anything that you talked about before, and you start over. And this is the most frustrating thing for entrepreneurs, because, of course, like, you are living it as an entrepreneur, right? This is, this company's the most important thing. You're spending every waking minute thinking about it, and then you meet with the board once every, you know, three months, and, of course, they've all got other things. They're not, like, thinking about your stuff, and you start over. So every conversation, for the most part, is stateless. But not with Roloff. Like, Roloff's superpower is he, like, picks up every conversation exactly where the last one left off.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Phil Libin
Libin: Silicon Valley Startup Model Engineered to Benefit Top-Tier VCs
“This idea of making a startup, a Silicon Valley-style startup, the concept has been engineered to benefit top-tier VCs.”
Great Products Get Discovered Automatically Without a Distribution Strategy
“I've never cared about discovery and about distribution. I think, like, the best stuff gets discovered automatically.”
Libin: Big Tech's Data Advantage Will Be a Big Nothing in Five Years
“So I think over the next, like, five years, this, like, alleged entrenched data advantage of big companies will turn out to be, you know, a big nothing.”
Libin: Average Expected Return for Startup Founders Is Sharply Negative
“Because the average expected return for founders of making a startup is sharply negative.”