The Bolster Insider

The usual approach for finding candidates is to search for people who have some things in common with us, or have some experience that resonates with us, and that we can more easily put in a box

Bolster has successfully matched over 100 executives to open roles

In the world of startups the term “CXO” refers to all the people who are head of their functional area and members of the executive team, whether that’s finance, sales, marketing, HR, or any other function.

We’ve identified five of the most common end-of-year projects, and how to outsource them so you can keep things moving internally as fast as possible.

You’re not the first person to be promoted to an executive role for the first time (and of course you’re not the last, either). Every single executive, at any company, had their first executive role at some point.

Hiring on-demand executives can help ensure that there’s a good fit between the candidate and the company. Want to save time and money in the interviewing and onboarding stages, and ensure high performance post-onboarding?

Register today for 4 panels designed to give you unprecedented access to experienced CEOs, leading investors and critical data you need to inform your next big business and board decisions. Links below to register!

Since launching Bolster’s marketplace officially in April, we’re starting to learn a lot about how CEOs and company leaders think about building out their executive teams.

Over the past several months, we’ve published a series of posts designed to help CEOs better understand how to build, diversify, and scale their boards of directors.

Over the past several months, we’ve published a series of posts designed to help CEOs better understand how to build, diversify, and scale their boards of directors.

On many boards there isn’t a formal review process for board members.

A lot of CEOs think it’s pointless to give board members any feedback, but failure to do so is just as big a miss as failure to give your staff feedback or failing to ask your staff for feedback.

How interviewing is like auditioning for a play

Two common communication challenges that board members face, particularly first-time board members, are making sure their voice is heard and giving difficult feedback

How can Bolster members make sure their profile is the best it can be?

Advisory Boards can be great sources of help for entrepreneurs. They can also be great things to participate in for people who want to understand and become involved in startups

Insights from four DEI experts on how to craft a DEI(B) plan at your company.

if you’re on any given board for any length of time, you’ll feel compelled to give difficult feedback either to the CEO, senior management, or the other directors.

There are several elements of a compensation package you need to know about for an independent board member

Bolster’s partner, Ascend, hosted a panel discussion about the path to on-demand executive work.

Listen to Bolster CEO Matt Blumberg and Bolster board member Cristina Miller talking with Luminary CEO Cate Luzio.

Here is a presentation from a webinar I did today on Key Strategies for Increasing Board Diversity.

I’ve often said that the hiring process doesn’t end on the employee’s first day. The same goes for new board members -- you have to take their onboarding as seriously as you take their hiring process.

Last week, we released results from our Board Benchmarking Study, which uncovered that only 1 in 3 companies has an independent director on their board.

A board role differs from other roles in business and no matter how accomplished you are in your professional career, being a “great” board member is not just a continuation of what worked for you before.

At Bolster, we’re flipping the script with how CEOs build and augment their executive teams with on-demand CXOs.

I’ve always believed that there is a sliding scale of Board member duties that changes dramatically as companies grow in size.

Once you’ve selected a Mentor or Coach, here are some tips to get the most out of your engagement.

Here is a presentation from a webinar I did today with our partners at Ellevate and Women in the Boardroom that ties a lot of the material together across all the posts.

Depending on your situation, your first board meeting might actually be your second board meeting. I strongly encouraged CEOs to be just as thorough in interviewing and onboarding a new board member as they would an executive hire

My colleagues and I started envisioning a new book as a sequel or companion to Startup CEO that is going to be published on June 9th.

Recruiting and interviewing candidates to join your board as an independent director is time consuming and there really aren’t any shortcuts or workarounds.

We believe that the business world is migrating toward an on-demand workforce across all levels of an organization.

Independent directors in privately held early-stage companies are compensated for their board contributions, just like they are in publicly traded companies, although the numbers and currencies are not the same.

Of all the board searches we are running at Bolster, about ⅔ of them are open to taking on first-time directors; and almost all are committed to increasing diversity on their boards.

Today we’re excited to announce preliminary results from Bolster’s Board Benchmarking survey, our analysis of 250 private company boards.

Startup Boards for CEOs Series: Post 5 of 9. You’d never hire a senior executive without putting together some kind of job spec or requirements document to guide the process, to get you from point A to point B. Hiring an independent board member is no different.

In a previous post, I shared the difference between CEO Mentors and CEO Coaches. I’ll share with you here how to select the Mentors and Coaches who are right for you.

How would you describe your professional value proposition? What about doing it in 15 seconds? Learn best practices from our event with Laura Allen.

Harry Potter was lucky. He had, in Albus Dumbledore, the ultimate wise elder, in his corner. Someone who could teach him how to be a better human being (er, wizard), how to be more proficient with his wand and spells, how to think strategically and defeat the bad guys.

Startup Boards for CXOs Series: Post 4 of 12. By the time you get to the interview stage for a board role, you’ve already been vetted to some degree. Like other high-profile jobs you should take the interview for a board role seriously, and you should be as prepared as possible.

Some people, when looking back at 2020, will remark what a difficult, turbulent year it was. I’m hopeful that founding teams and startups will look at 2020 and say, “that’s the year we drew a line in the sand and started diversifying our board. It was the best decision we ever made.”

Startup Boards for CXOs Series: Post 3 of 12. I’m often asked by accomplished executives how to get on a board and I always tell them that one of the best ways to build your “board readiness” skills is to get in the game. An advisory board role is an excellent way to do that.

Startup Boards for CEOs Series: Post 3 of 9. Now that you’re committed to getting the size and composition of your board right as the foundation to develop your board as a strategic asset, you need to think next about board dynamics. This is particularly important as your company grows.

As an on-demand marketplace, we spend a lot of time at Bolster thinking about how CEOs can leverage interim, fractional, and project-based work to augment their teams and achieve scale faster. It's also the model we follow internally.

At Bolster, we believe that diverse and inclusive teams and boards are more innovative, drive better business outcomes, and are stronger than homogenous teams. We aren’t the only ones that think that way.

At Bolster, we believe that 2021 will mark the rise of the on-demand economy for executives. More than ever before, executives are seeking out roles that distinctly aren’t full-time for a variety of reasons...

Startup Boards for CXOs Series: Post 2 of 12. Short of someone calling you up and asking if you’d like to be on their board, or asking you during a networking event, you might be wondering, “Well, how do I get on a board?”

Startup Boards for CEOs Series: Post 2 of 9. How large should your board be? That’s a pretty critical question every CEO contemplates at one time or another.

As we kick off a new year of planning, resource allocation, and headcount discussions, consider this new tactic to add to your 2021 CEO toolkit: On-demand executive talent.