We have an Advisor wishing to get involved - had 4 good meetings, he has an A1 track record in household name co,s just concerned about the deal...

Great advisors are driven by 3 primary variables: the industry/sector of your product, your existing network, and where you are physically located. Industry - Your industry may or may not be network driven, in the sense that industry members regularly come together organically (venture capital) or stay relatively separate (accountants). If they regularly come together, industry events are great ways to building your network and eventually finding advisors. If they do not, this is where the value of your network comes into play. Network - Your network is the first place to start, going first through 1st degree connections and then to 2nd degree connections. 2nd degree connections can ultimately be more helpful as the individual has less of a personal relationship with you and may be more amenable to a business relationship that is more objective than your close friends could ever provide. Physical Location - While this may be difficult to permanently change, your location matters, and your proximity to the circles you care about matters. If you are not already in the center of where you want to be, it may be worth a trip to where the highest number of potential targets are if you can stack enough meetings together. Happy to further expand on a call if you'd like.

There are two types of advisory boards: For show (i.e. credibility) or for help. They should intersect but often don't. The "For Show" advisory boards are usually no more than 5 (though I've seen up to 10) and are meant to demonstrate a significant depth of subject-matter expertise and credibility to potential customers. They act as a form of "social proof" for, meant more to be a form of "light endorsement" than to actually provide guidance. A venture I was interim co-ceo of had such an advisory board and running formal advisory board meetings was a really big pain in that when we actually "put them to work" in asking to weigh-in on a specific question or issue, it was almost impossible to get a unified answer. We found it better to hold quarterly events at our office which were meant to be much more social and produced some interesting conversations than formal advisory meetings. For help advisory boards really should be no more than 3 and would advise having diverse experience but all highly relevant to the challenges you are and will be facing. I have a document I'm happy to share that spells out commitments at different levels. Just private message me your email and I can send it to you.

Approach it as if you were applying for a position in an organization. You will want to find the right industry, the right management team, the right opening on the board [either governance or advisory], the right person to help you. Next create a statement that says why you on this board. Then sell it.

I've had many "Advisors" over the years and I like to break them up into 2 groups. 1) Formal Advisors These are people who strategic insights into the business and would create value for the company by having them listed on our site, and have access to them in an ongoing way. I typically engage them well before anything formal to see if they would actually be helpful and that we both get along. Compensation is usually around 0.1% - 0.5% ... if the person is amazing and will also help with the fundraising process, then I would go as high as 1%. 2) Personal Advisors These are people who I turn to for specific advice around tactics and strategy on an infrequent basis (maybe once or twice a year). Things like SEO, Internationalization, etc ... I typically try to create value for them every time we chat, so that it's win/win and I don't compensate with equity. I've personally never paid for formal advice, although I do often via Clarity .. but that's different. The great thing about Clarity is I can avoid spending the time or equity to get similar quality advice in usually a faster time period, however both approaches (list above vs. using Clarity) are totally different affinities to the person and the company. Call if you need more.

The point of advising is to have fun but it's also to align with the upside of the business. So the things to consider / ensure are. - Are they venture backeable ... if they don't plan (or you don't see them being able to) raise venture capital, then being a formal advisor (with equity) won't matter. - Do you trust them. As an advisor, you're extended your brand and credibility to the team so you need to ensure they'll be good stewards of it. - Are they coacheable ... when you talk, do they listen and are open to the advice. Do they take action? As for compensation & commitment, here's what's normal. - 0.1-1% equity in the early stages .. usually over 2 years vesting monthly. - You make yourself available for 1-2 hour per month, and help throughout making introductions, reviewing documents,etc Personally, I think it's super important to ensure you tell what you won't be doing. Ex: I won't be accountable for a work product, as in - I'm not going to run your marketing / development team :) You never know what people expect, so it's best to discuss it upfront. Also, if you plan on doing formal advisory (for compensation) - it's ideal to get atleast 10+ companies to help out in that format to ever see a financial return ... your essentially acting much like a VC. So just understand, there's a very high likely hood that it won't go anywhere financially .. but it can be super rewarding. The key is that you enjoy spending time with the team and learning about their journey.