Resources
Luminary: Finding your Seat in the Board Room
Listen to Bolster CEO Matt Blumberg and Bolster board member Cristina Miller talking with Luminary CEO Cate Luzio.
The Important Role Independent Directors Play on Impacting Private Company Board Diversity
Here is a presentation from a webinar I did today on Key Strategies for Increasing Board Diversity.
How to Onboard Directors, Especially First-time Directors
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.
Recap: ICYMI - Watch the Panel: Flipping the Script on Private Board Diversity
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.
How to be a Great Board Member
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.
How to Manage On-Demand Talent in Your Business, Part 2
At Bolster, we’re flipping the script with how CEOs build and augment their executive teams with on-demand CXOs.
How to Think About Corporate Governance as a Board Member
I’ve always believed that there is a sliding scale of Board member duties that changes dramatically as companies grow in size.
How to get the most out of working with a CEO Mentor or CEO Coach
Once you’ve selected a Mentor or Coach, here are some tips to get the most out of your engagement.
How to Prepare for Your First Board Role
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.
Preparing for your first board meeting
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
Startup CXO: The Sequel to Startup CEO
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.
How to Recruit and Interview Directors
Recruiting and interviewing candidates to join your board as an independent director is time consuming and there really aren’t any shortcuts or workarounds.
How to Manage On-Demand Talent in Your Business, Part 1
We believe that the business world is migrating toward an on-demand workforce across all levels of an organization.
What You Need to Know About Board Compensation
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.
My new Startup Board Mantra: 1-1-1
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.
A Declaration of Independents: The Important Role Independent Directors Play on Diversifying & Strengthening Private Company Boards
Today we’re excited to announce preliminary results from Bolster’s Board Benchmarking survey, our analysis of 250 private company boards.
What to Look for in a Director
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.
How to Select a CEO Mentor or CEO Coach
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 to Pitch Yourself in 15 Seconds - And Get the Job!
How would you describe your professional value proposition? What about doing it in 15 seconds? Learn best practices from our event with Laura Allen.
The Difference Between a CEO Coach and a CEO Mentor and Why Every CEO Needs Both
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.
Interviewing for a Board Role
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.
Diversity in the Boardroom & the Importance of Appointing First-Time Directors
Startup Boards for CEOs Series: Post 4 of 9. 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.”
Should You Serve on an Advisory Board?
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.
Board Evolution and Turnover
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.
Lessons Learned from Joining Bolster as Fractional Employees
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.
How Bolster is Helping CEOs Diversify Their Teams
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.
Use Cases to Bolster Your Team: How to Leverage On-Demand Talent in Your Business
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...
How to Prepare Yourself to Get on Your First Board
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?”
Size and Composition of Boards
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.
The Opportunity for On-Demand Talent
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.
What Startup Corporate Boards Look Like
Startup Boards for CXOs Series: Post 1 of 12. Unless you’ve been a startup executive with regular interactions with a board and regular attendance at board meetings, you’re unlikely to know what a startup board looks like, how it functions, and what you can do to make a big impact.
The Purpose of a Board
Startup Boards for CEOs Series: Post 1 of 9. Any series of blog posts about boards should start with the basics. Why have a board in the first place? What do they do? How big should they be? Do you really even need one?
Fractional CXOs (Executives): What They Are and What They Do
You may be wondering, what exactly is a fractional executive? A fractional executive is an up-and-coming type of executive gig role.
Introducing the Bolster Board Benchmarking Survey
Our Board Benchmarking survey will shed light on the independence, diversity, and compensation of private company boards that’s never been available on a broad basis before.
The New Way to Scale a Board of Directors
Learn more about how to most effectively scale your board to support your company’s success
How On-Demand Executives help existing leaders
On-Demand Executives help CEOs and existing leaders, allowing you to scale from within your employee base instead of hiring externally, increasing your chance of success with the role.
Our First Member Service - Health Insurance
You asked, we listened! Bolster creates partnership to offer health, dental, vision and life insurance.
Bolster Delivers Fractional and Interim Execs
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, it was clear that there was a better way to connect high-end, experienced and vetted senior talent to startups. Kevin Lee with eMarketing Association sits down with Matt Blumberg to discuss the opportunity and learn more about Bolster.
Zoomsites
Moving offsites to Zoomsites. I’ve attended two remote conferences recently. Both hold interesting lessons for how these kinds of events can work well.
Executive Talent Marketplace Bolster Launches With a New Way to Scale Executive Teams and Boards
Welcome to Bolster, the on-demand executive talent marketplace. We are creating a platform that is the new way to scale an executive team.
What Kind of Gig Economy Executive Are You?
The major societal trend to “gig” has reached the C-Suite. Bolster was started to help organize a talent marketplace out of what is mostly an informal economy today.
The Gig Economy Executive
The gig economy is a labor market where short-term, or freelance, roles are more prevalent than permanent positions.
The New Way to Scale an Executive Team
Bolster was started to create a new way for startup and scaleup CEOs to think about growing their leadership teams. Why do CEOs need help with this?
Our Founding Manifesto
Welcome to Bolster, the on-demand executive talent marketplace. We are creating a platform that is the new way to scale an executive team and board.