January 15, 2014
⬢This article was originally posted on StartupNorth. It was co-written by Boris and Danny Robinson. It provides background on finding and compensating official advisors. The startup advisor agreement we recommend people use is available in Contractually.
One of the great things about the tech industry is the generousity of people, who have ‘been there and done that’, to share their time with entrepreneurs. The energy of sharing, connecting, approachability and equality makes startups so attractive.
Lately, there is an increased demand for attention and engagement of advisors and mentors. And, in speaking with other advisors in the community, there is a feeling that some entrepreneurs are exploiting the system and taking advantage of the good will of others. It’s not necessarily intentional or deliberate. Entrepreneurs are trying to get meaningful advice to maximize the outcomes of their companies for the least cost.
There are increasing demands on advisors, and it is partially the role of the advisor to manage their workload and volunteer time. But it is also the responsibility of entrepreneurs to understand the circumstances of when to ask someone to join your advisory board and when not to.
When a founder feels like he/she could use advice from someone experienced in a certain area. Whether it’s getting go to market strategy, product design, fund raising, corporate structure, making introductions, or simply adding credibility to the company (though don’t overplay the advisory board when raising capital – see Mark Suster’s post). Getting an advisor to help you out with skills that you don’t have inside the company is a great way to move forward.
When we say “official”, we mean people that have signed an advisory agreement and are compensated with equity. You can and will have many more people around you helping out and giving feedback and advice.
It is the responsibility of a founder to source and reaches out to an advisor and asks to meet. There is no obligation for anyone to become an advisor. This is like a dating process. The goal is to build a relationship over time, where there is value for both the advisor and the founder in the role.
As an advisor:
But back on the founder side, here’s where it seems there is a bit of a problem in Canada: no follow through.
After accepting and otherwise being happy with the advisor’s help, you should reward them with an offer to officially join the advisory board.
Our guidelines for standard advisory terms are as follows:
Assuming the advisor accepts, entering into an agreement like this will explicitly link your success to theirs, and add their credibility to yours. Vesting them in your company’s success spreads out your champions, and creates more winners for the community at large.
As a startup founder, you’re going on a long arduous journey and you’re going to need a lot of help along the way. Building a strong set of advisors will be one of your first “asks”. These are people that can complement your skillset and fill gaps on your team, and add credibility (sometimes called social proof or traction), especially for first time founders.
If anyone has helped you in a meaningful way, and you have simply not known the proper etiquette, I encourage you to retroactively offer up advisory board options. Let’s make sure that us friendly Canadians are known for our official follow through, as well as our friendliness.
We’ve worked with Contractually to host an Advisory Agreement template that we’ve used for years.
You can sign up for Contractually and use it directly with their free plan, or be old-school and use it manually.
Thanks to Fasken Martineau for making this template available.
