#136 - Anu Hariharan on Managing a Board

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Anu Hariharan is a partner at YC. Today’s episode is about her recent post, How To Manage a Board.
You can find her on Twitter @anuhariharan.
If you’re interested in doing Startup School this year, signups are open at StartupSchool.org. The course just started and the deadline to sign up is August 4th. Select companies who complete the course will also receive 15,000 dollars in equity-free funding.
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:57 - Why Anu wrote How to Manage a Board
2:27 - Board composition
4:27 - Adding independent board members
6:27 - The responsibilities of a board member
9:12 - Productive board meetings
12:52 - Sharing materials before the meeting
13:42 - Bringing executives into the meeting
16:57 - Dealing with board conflict
18:22 - Following up after a board meeting
21:12 - Dealing with difficult board members
23:57 - Reality distortion
24:52 - Agustin Feuerhake asks - What does it take to be a great board member?
27:22 - Dave Bailey asks - To what extent should the board culture reflect the company culture?
29:42 - Connor Abene asks - How do you think about adding board members who haven't worked in your industry but you think are good?
33:22 - Rhina asks - Could you address managing a board during product market fit time/ pivot times?