Blog · 02 Jun 2026

How to build an advisory board that earns its keep

Advisers are easy to collect and hard to use. Founders assemble impressive names, put them on a slide, and never call them. The names add nothing, and experienced investors know to discount them.

A working advisory relationship looks different: fewer people, narrower remits, and a real obligation on both sides.

Recruit against gaps, not against status

Before approaching anyone, write down the three decisions in the next year you are least equipped to make. Regulatory approval in a market you do not know. Pricing for enterprise buyers. Hiring a first commercial lead. Those gaps define who you need.

A well-known founder in an unrelated sector is a worse adviser than an unglamorous operator who has solved your exact problem twice.

Three is usually the right number

Each additional adviser costs coordination and dilutes your attention. Three people, each with a clear domain, each meeting you regularly, will outperform ten names on a slide by a wide margin.

Make the ask specific

"Would you be an adviser?" is easy to decline politely and easier to accept meaninglessly. A concrete ask gets a real answer:

One hour a month for twelve months, focused on our go-to-market in the Gulf, plus two or three introductions where you think there is a genuine fit.

That is something a busy person can evaluate. It also sets a standard you can both tell has been met or missed.

What to pay

Equity is the norm, and the amounts are small: typically a fraction of a percent, vesting monthly over one to two years, with the same cliff logic you would apply to an employee. Vesting matters here for the same reason it matters for founders. An adviser who disengages after two months should not keep a full grant.

Put it in writing. A one-page agreement covering scope, term, equity, vesting and confidentiality prevents the awkward conversation later.

Run the meetings properly

The failure mode is a pleasant catch-up that produces nothing. Send a short brief two days ahead: what has changed, the specific decision you want help with, and the options you are weighing. An adviser who arrives prepared gives better advice, and preparing forces you to think.

Close each session by writing down what you decided and what you will report back on. Advisers stay engaged when they can see their input mattered.

Let them go when the gap closes

Advisory relationships have a natural life. When you have hired a commercial lead, the adviser who covered that gap has done the job. Ending it cleanly at the end of a term is normal and keeps the relationship warm for later. Which is why fixed terms are worth setting from the start.