Board-Ready

What does a board actually need from a founder?

Not good news; no surprises. A board can help with almost anything it hears about early: a missed number, a hiring problem, a cash question. What damages trust is hearing it late, or from someone else, or in a pack finished at midnight. Board-readiness is mostly rhythm and honesty, not polish.

Take Board-Ready: fourteen questions, about five minutes. Answer for the last two or three meetings.

What does the test look at?

Four areas, three or four questions each:

• Reporting rhythm. Regular updates, with the same numbers each time.
• Governance basics. Minutes, approvals, conflicts of interest and key documents.
• Relationships with board members. Talking between meetings, and knowing what each is useful for.
• How you share bad news. Early, from you, before you have a fix.

What do I get at the end?

A board readiness score out of 100 and what to fix before the next meeting: the two weakest areas, each with one move, such as sending the month’s hardest news in three lines before the meeting. The bands are “Board-ready” (70 and above), “Getting there” (40 to 69) and “Not ready yet” (below 40).

How is it worked out?

Each answer runs from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Seven of the fourteen questions describe a healthy habit, such as “I tell the board about problems before the meeting, not in it”, and are flipped before scoring. Each area’s average shows how far it is from ready; the overall average becomes the score, from 0 to 100.

The questions, areas, bands and advice are a draft written with AI and are waiting for a coach’s review. They’re not legal advice; for your legal duties as a director, talk to a lawyer.

What should I read or take next?

Read how to run a startup board meeting for a worked example of a board update. Sharing bad news is a hard conversation; Hard Conversations shows your style. Every tool for this stage is on the Founders page.