Here’s something a bit weird about being CEO of a startup: you hire your own boss.
I’m talking, of course, about a company’s Board of Directors.
For the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a great board member. You see, we’ve been quietly transforming the world, home by home, with the ability to print incredible things at the push of a button. And now, it was time for me to level up at the topmost level, and bring in some amazing folks who can help make us better.
But what makes it so hard to find the right people for the job?
For starters, every CEO has a strange relationship with their board of directors. Because there are really three different relationships happening at the same time.
First, the CEO is an employee of the board. They’re accountable to the board to report on the company’s progress. Major transactions they propose must be ratified by the board. And if the board disapproves of how they’re doing their job? The board is the one to fire them.
Second, the CEO is a member of the board. They both lead and participate in discussions. While there are a few conversations that should exclude them – making decisions about their compensation, for example – board members regard the CEO as a peer and a participant in the board’s activities.
Third, the CEO manages the board. This is truly bizarre. The CEO’s manager is a committee, and the CEO is also responsible for managing said committee. While the CEO can’t usually fire board members, they’re responsible both for basic operational coordination (when to meet, who does what) and for making sure that the board members share the company’s integrity and values.
See what I mean? It gets complicated when your boss is also your peer, who’s also your responsibility. And it’s pretty common for CEOs to fail to keep one part of that relationship healthy and productive, which usually means every part fails, eventually.
You’ve probably read about this kind of breakdown in the news. It’s attention-getting stuff when a board and CEO are at loggerheads – there’s a reason why HBO’s Silicon Valley featured so many different and memorable board conflicts (fortunately, none were inspired by Glowforge, though the show’s writers did spend time with us for a firsthand look at life in a startup). It makes for great TV!
But boy, it’s terrible business.
From the very beginning of Glowforge, I knew that I wanted a board that made Glowforge better. You’d think that would go without saying, but I think a lot of the board drama that spills over into the public is rooted in a fundamental disagreement about what “better” means.
Like at Theranos, where a former US Secretary of State passionately defended the company from the boardroom while evidence piled up of criminal fraud. That’s drama, but is that better?
At Glowforge, we’re trying to build a world where anyone can print anything. Being frank, that’s somewhat outrageous. We’re working to make science fiction a reality. And I am certain we can do it! But it won’t happen overnight. For it to be successful, we have to think very seriously about what we will be doing not just next quarter, or next year, but next decade. And beyond even that!
So I asked the people I trusted: How do you find board members who want to build an incredible company, not just an incredible liquidity event?
For the most recent additions to our board, I met some amazing people. In all, I reviewed more than 80 prospective board members. Every single one of them was impeccably credentialed, and many offered the diversity (of viewpoints, experience, and background) that we want to see at all levels at Glowforge — and that increasingly looks to be good for business. Any startup would feel lucky to convince just one of them to climb aboard.
People talk a lot about how hard it is to find a needle in a haystack. But you know what’s harder? Finding the sharpest needle in a pile of needles.
It came down to just three questions.
- Do they believe in our values and are they as committed to them as we are?
- Do they believe in our mission to enable anyone to print anything, and are they ready to work alongside us to create it?
- When the right thing wasn’t easy… did they do it anyway?
Working under and with my board as the CEO continues to be one of the great privileges of my career.
In 2021, there’s no one I’d rather think about 2050 with.