Cubitt: Real value of board meetings is the CEO's preparation process
Code Cubitt · #95 Code Cubitt: Coachability Is Critical · Oct 27, 2020 · at 28:08
Code Cubitt explains how preparing for board meetings forces startup founders into high-level strategic reflection and personal accountability.
0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.1s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“It's the preparation process that is really where the value lies. And in that, that quiet contemplation that the CEO goes through, that's out of the weeds, out of the day to day.”
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 Code Cubitt
Cubitt: Husband-and-wife founding teams rarely work out in venture-backed startups
“Rarely do husband-wife teams work out for a number of reasons, but not least of which, in our view anyway, you know, let's say that the wife is the CEO and the husband is the CTO or the CFO, You know, their direct reports are rarely gonna, you know, not gonna …”
Cubitt: Entrepreneurship is the only way in business to create real impact
“It's the only opportunity that you can have as an individual in business to really create impact in the world. Otherwise you're an employee, part of a big machine.”
Cubitt: Consistently Picking Seed-Stage Winners Is Nearly Impossible
“So our view is that it's nearly impossible to pick winners at the seed stage. There's a lot of memory, I guess you'd say, and hard won battles that, that help guide our decision. But at the end of the day, We are humble enough to know that it's impossible to p…”
Cubitt: Only Tier-One Venture Firms Can Rely on Power-Law Returns
“Unless you're a, I'm going to call it a tier one firm who has a history of getting amazing deal flow from the best founders, it's really tough to live on the power law and expect to get a unicorn in every fund.”
Cubitt: Even equity splits fail because future dilution destroys founder motivation
“I don't actually. And so, and the reason is that at the earliest stages, you have to sort of forward look the cap table. In other words, I'm going to raise a seed and I'm going to get 20% dilution to Typically the Series A, another 20 to 30% dilution, and so o…”
Cubitt: VCs Taking Excessive Equity Destroy Founder Alignment
“At the same time, the founding team needs to have enough equity to make it worth their while. And I think some VCs have it upside down where they say, well, we're going to own all this business, but then you've lost alignment of your founder. And if you lose y…”