Crafting the Perfect Startup Board: 8 Essential Attributes for Success

Startups have a short time to achieve sustainability or else die. You must have the best founding executive team and the best founding board. Be selective.

Here are 8 critical attributes to look for.

8. The board members must care for both you, the entrepreneur, and your family.

7. The board members must be compelled by your vision. They want to be a part of making your vision a reality. This causes long-term commitment.

6. The board must be good at figuring out the "what" and the "how." These are the people that will get you on the path to sustainability.

5. The board members must have startups in their blood. They like dealing with the endless stream of seemingly intractable problems.

4. The board members must enjoy working through big opportunities and big problems with few resources. They have the mind of a startup guy.

3. The board members must be intelligent. Time is the scarcest resource of the startup. To maximize time, you need people on the board who get concepts quickly, naturally focus on what is most important, and know when to contribute and when to shut up.

2. The board must have members with deep industry knowledge. This will result in sound strategies and a faster start by leveraging the key players in the industry.

1. The startup board members must have the mindset of moving quickly and aggressively with minimal resources, looking for a point of overwhelming dominance and not a full frontal attack.

It is almost impossible to find one board member who embodies all of these attributes. But the more these attributes are shared by the board, the greater your opportunity for success.