Boards Matter — Boulder Ventures Ltd.

*At a fancy Aspen deck party, the author reunites with Boots Ferguson and Dick Jackson, his fellow Directors from the 2000 – 2007 AMGA Board.*

Governance is key to the role venture capitalists play, and most serve on the boards of the companies they invest in. Boards are important to a startup’s success and the best VCs aid in this corporate development effort through credibility, strategy, connections and good judgment. Experienced entrepreneurs value these contributions alongside help with finance and rely on their VC Board members to guide them through important decisions.

Whether a public or private firm, in the boardroom Directors understand that they must come to each meeting asking two important questions: who runs the company and who owns the company? In answering these questions each meeting, Board members put the interests of all shareholders ahead of their own, a fiduciary duty that experienced VCs embrace.

Over the past decade, the role of governance in VC-backed startups has been diminished by Venture Capitalists eager to portray themselves as “founder-friendly”. In exchange for an early equity option in a promising startup, many VCs have given up their governance duties and enabled corporate control among inexperienced entrepreneurs despite their minority ownership. Big public success stories that lack good governance like Facebook and Airbnb dominate the narrative, but this strategy almost always ends badly for both entrepreneurs and investors.

Tone comes from the top and at Boulder Ventures, we take our Board roles seriously.

Our portfolio companies embrace good Board governance as a standard of behavior and a known best practice. Our serial entrepreneurs appreciate the governance duties that their Directors perform, and highlight these examples for their own management teams. Employees who are shareholders are grateful for a strong and transparent Board that looks out for the interests of all the shareholders of the firm.

Boards Matter.