Hicks: Flexpay reserved its eighth advisory board slot for M&A
Darryl Hicks · How to Build a Board of Advisors | Darryl Hicks, Founder of Flexpay · PMF Show · Jun 15, 2022 · at 4:20
Darryl Hicks, founder of Flexpay, outlines his eight-bucket framework for recruiting startup advisory board members.
0:00 / 0:21exact quote · 21.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“And in full transparency, I only filled seven of the boxes at the beginning, because I was like, I need to keep one free. For the stuff that I don't know yet. Like, I don't know what I don't know as I'm going to discover things as I scale this business. Right. And so I only filled that eighth position on the advisory board about two years into the business with an M and a guy, which is perfect.”
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 Darryl Hicks
Hicks: Engage startup advisors on demand rather than on recurring cadences
“And every single one of my advisors, this is key, said, I can do this, but I cannot commit to like monthly meetings or quarterly meetings or anything like that. Like call me anytime, email me anytime, ad hoc, you're stuck. Great. I know a lot of people, and Da…”
Hicks: Building advisory board pre-revenue was smartest Flexpay decision
“Smartest thing I ever did in Flex Bay was building an advisory board before I even had a dollar of revenue.”
Hicks: Advisory boards should provide strategy and connections, not operational execution
“And then how you interact with these people is really around three things. It's conversations, strategy, and connections. So conversations, not action. Strategy, not execution. And connections is really the biggest part, right? What do you need to do and who d…”
Hicks: Flexpay added an advisor purely for network and brand credibility
“One of the people that I added onto my board was kind of purely for that reason. Really the only value I knew this person was going to bring was their connections. How many people they know and how many people know them. And just to be able to go around and sa…”
Hicks: Recruiting active operators as advisors simplifies vetting for depth
“If I put that filter of saying, I'm only going to work with people that are actually working and building their own business and really moving the needle in a significant way and what they are doing day to day in their own job. I kind of don't need to worry as…”