It doesn't seem to matter how many Board meetings I go through, it's still near to impossible to predict how these things will work out. Ones I think will go well actually don't; others, where I think the material is weak or thin, end up as "wins". There seems to be little rhyme or reason to it all, making each one feel like a weird game of Russian Roulette, but with more like three out of six bullets in the cylinder instead of one.
If anyone out there has "cracked the code", I'd love to learn the secret.
Now, if only Robert De Niro would attend the meetings instead of me ....
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Why Board Meetings are like "The Deer Hunter"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
so which flavor was yesterday's board meeting? ;)
i think the driver behind the randomness of board meeting mood is the internal VC firm politics that have been taking place the week or two before your meeting. if one of their other deals is doing well, and they got a pat on the back during their partner meeting, you're gold. if they got spanked in their partner meeting, you're toast!
I'm sure that's a part of it, as is the reality that, from one meeting to the next, there isn't much "collective memory" on what some of the prevailing issues are or even what's previously been discussed. Add to that the inescapable fact that some attendees are operationally biased and some are more strategic in outlook; some are financial guys and some have only large company experience. Very quickly, the whole thing can become somewhat "confused" I think is the polite way of putting it.
Just a few bullets more ...
Post a Comment