How to Present To Your Board As an Exec

The goal of presenting to the board, or to any senior leadership team, is to leverage their expertise and guidance. They want updates on important topics so they can provide suggestions, insights, and connections to help your team move toward your goals. It can feel intimidating to present, but the board’s ultimate goal is to be helpful partners, not to evaluate you. However the reality is, you will also be evaluated. 

Your ability to present to the board can impact the trajectory of your career. If you represent yourself well, the CEO and the board will take note of it. You will get more responsibility or get promoted and the board will trust you. If you present poorly, then you will want to present better the second time around. If you continue to struggle, then you may not have a long tenure at that company because the board and CEO will have lost confidence in you.

Here is my framework for presenting to the board:

1. Understand Your Purpose

2. Understand How You Will Be Evaluated

3. Craft a Logical Presentation

4. Master Your Delivery

5. Understand What Happens After

1. Understand Your Purpose

You're presenting because the board wants exposure on key topics. This allows them to guide the CEO during the closed-door portion of the board meeting. 

There are two main reasons you are presenting:

You are a member of the management team

After Series A or B, board meetings consist of the CEO and the management team. You will present on your functional area (Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Product) outlining your goals and priorities.

You will want to understand the board’s definition of your role, and then present on:

1. Previous Quarter - What went well, what didn’t go well, and why?

2. Next Quarter - What are your priorities, how have they changed, and what are you focused on with your team?

3. Resources - How will you resource your priorities this next quarter?

4. Team - Where is your team strong, where is it not, and what do you need to add?
   

You are a subject matter expert on a topic

If you are not a member of the management team, then you are presenting on a problem, an opportunity, or you are the champion for a potential acquisition that the board wants exposure on. 

It is less common for non-management team members to present. If you are presenting, it means that both your manager and the CEO invited you to do so and they want you to get positive visibility with the board.

2. Understand How You Will Be Evaluated

We know startups are challenging, and our goal isn't to criticize second or third level people. However, we do pay attention to a few things.

1. Are you asking the right questions? Identify the 3 to 5 questions that we or anyone would ask about your area.
   For example, if you’re a CS leader struggling with churn, can you pinpoint the problem? Is the issue that people aren’t getting live, that they are live, but not using the product, or they have tried using the product and they aren’t getting value? Are the questions you are asking making sense?
   

2. Can you prioritize? If your presentation is not going well, I’ll ask you three questions to assess your ability to prioritize. And 80% of leaders fail to answer them crisply. So try to prepare answers for questions like these:

   • What are the top 3 things to fix in your org?

   • What are the top 3 things you need your peers to improve to make your org more successful?

   • Have you already had those conversations with your peers already?

3. Can you scale as a leader? As the company grows, are you still the right person in your role?

4. Is the management team aligned? We can assess the following from a board meeting:

   • Do we have the right leader for this area now?

   • Do the functional leaders appear to get along?

   • Is the CEO doing a good job aligning these leaders?