How to Choose a Board of Directors

I recently had a member of our Acquisitions.com community reach out to me requesting that I join his board. 

This conversation led to some valuable insights that you can use if your goal is to go out there and build your board of directors for your acquisitions goals. 

Many people have heard from different people on the internet that they NEED a board of directors (BOD) to succeed in their acquisitions journey. 

Now a BOD can be a great asset to help you achieve your goals, but the first question you need to ask is, "What kind of board am I bringing with me on my acquisitions journey?" 

Am I looking to bring on TOP Tier, First Tier, or Second Tier players? And more importantly, what is the exchange of value that will be taking place? 

At the end of the day, a BOD is just people you connect with to help you achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. 

Ask yourself;

❓ Do I connect with this person? 

❓ Do I like them? 

❓ Do I enjoy working with them? (Do they enjoy working with me? 

❓ Can I learn from this person? If so, what can I learn? 

❓ Do I respect them? 

❓ Can they connect me to other people who can also help? 

❓ Are they willing to invest in my deal? If not, why not? 

❓ Will they do some kind of work in the deal? If so, what kind, and if not, is it even worth having them be part of the deal (BOD)? 

❓ Are they active right now in the world of acquisitions? (Not 25 years ago when the game was very different)

The second thing to understand is that a BOD is not a free pass to offload responsibility and work onto someone else. 

You need to be at a level where you are ready, willing, and able to get the deal done yourself. Most people I speak with who have assembled a BOD only talk to them a couple of times per quarter. 

Once you acquire your business, you also need to understand that the BOD will not help you run the company's day-to-day operations. 

Think of them as your coaching staff as opposed to your players. 

Your job is to be on the field and in the coach's box, formulating your plan and vision for the company with your BOD and implementing it with the team (your employees). 

Many BOD candidates are older retired people who don't have a lot of skin in the game. If it succeeds, that's great, but if not, it's not really going to impact them. 

That is why with our concierge service, we make it a priority to get in with the entrepreneur, roll up our sleeves and very often invest a significant portion in the deal. 

That means we are bound to the deal with skin in the game. This way, the entrepreneur can be confident that their emails and calls won't go unanswered and have access to an entire team, similar to a BOD, to help them get their deals done.