Leveraging Your Board for Talent: A Founder's Guide

# Leveraging Your Board for Talent: A Founder's Guide

Your board members have networks and influence that can accelerate your hiring. But many founders underutilize this resource. Here's how to maximize board support for talent.

What Board Members Can Do

### Direct Introductions - Candidates from their portfolio companies - Executives they've worked with before - People in their personal networks - Industry experts and advisors

### Credibility Lending - Join candidate calls to "sell" the opportunity - Provide references on the company and founders - Add legitimacy to your story - Help close hesitant candidates

### Strategic Guidance - Hiring plan review and feedback - Compensation benchmarking - Organizational design input - Executive search advice

How to Ask for Help

### Be Specific Bad: "Can you help us find a VP of Sales?" Good: "We need a VP of Sales with B2B SaaS experience, $10-50K ACV, 5+ person team management, ideally from [specific companies]. Can you make intros to anyone who fits?"

### Make It Easy - Provide a clear job description - Share key selling points - Offer to draft intro emails - Handle all logistics yourself

### Follow Up Appropriately - Thank them promptly for any intro - Update on candidate progress - Share outcomes (hired or not) - Don't pester, but keep them informed

When to Engage Board

### Executive Searches Board involvement is expected and valuable for: - C-level hires - VP-level leadership - Strategic roles that report to CEO

### High-Priority Roles Board can help with urgency on: - Critical skill gaps - Competitive situations - Hard-to-fill specialties

### Closing Support For finalist candidates who need extra conviction: - Board member call to share vision - Reference on the company - Equity and upside discussion

What Not to Do

### Don't Abdicate Board support is supplemental, not a replacement for your own recruiting efforts.

### Don't Overwhelm Pick your spots. Reserve board asks for high-impact situations.

### Don't Ignore Input If board members give feedback on candidates or process, take it seriously.

### Don't Surprise Them Keep board informed of key hiring decisions, especially at the executive level.

The Bottom Line

Your board wants you to succeed, and that means helping you build a great team. Be proactive, specific, and strategic in how you engage them on talent, and you'll unlock significant value.