Blog
Signs Your CMO Isn’t Scaling
Your CMO needs the ability to create space in their day for thinking and analysis, they need to be strategic, and they need to be able to stop doing “one more thing.”
What Does Great Look Like in a CMO?
Great CMOs have some common characteristics and skills. We're sharing some of the qualities a CMO should embody in order to stand out.
Recapping Navigating Choppy Waters: Path to Profitability
Experienced executives shared their stories and offered perspective and advice on leading—and growing—companies during challenging times.
Date Before You Get Engaged: Use Projects as Auditions
Hiring an executive is a major commitment for you and your team—you need to get it right. Short term projects can fill a specific need or determine whether an individual will be a good fit for a longer-term role.
Creating an Executive Job Description
Job descriptions are a key element in ensuring you appeal to the right candidates, so it’s important to write them effectively.
When to Hire a Chief Marketing Officer
Marketing is the key function in building your brand, reaching customers, and increasing engagement. When is it time for a CMO?
Recapping Navigating Choppy Waters: Talent Focus
Experienced talent executives shared their stories and offered perspective and advice on recruiting and retention for today’s leaders.
Bolster Partners with Visible Hands Visionaries Accelerator
Bolster Prime Mentors providing 1:1 coaching through Bolster's partnership with Visible Hands Visionaries Accelerator
Startup Boards: VCs and CEOs Need To Do Their Jobs
A great board is one of a company’s greatest assets. A weak board can kill a company. It’s time to hit the reset button on boards and board meetings.
On Leadership: Execution
Crappy execution is a waste startup leaders cannot afford
Avoid Burnout and Bring Joy to Your Work
Recently, Bolster hosted Charlene Wang of LivingOS.org to share her expertise around avoiding burnout and building a joyful, balanced life.
Best and Worst Practices (Plus FAQs) for Layoffs
Layoffs are bad, but how you handle them makes all the difference. Here are a few best and worst practices for orchestrating layoffs.
Recapping Navigating Choppy Waters: The CEO Perspective
Experienced CEOs shared their stories and offered perspective for today’s leaders.
Don’t Ask Your Board for a Strategy
You want your board to support and buy into the strategy you present to them, but you don’t want them to actually define that strategy.
How to Engage With Your CRO
Make every moment with your CRO count. As a CEO, time with your executives is vital.
Recapping Navigating Choppy Waters: The VC Perspective
Panelists agreed, companies should continue growing and looking ahead, prioritizing thoughtful, data-based decision making.
Signs Your Chief Revenue Officer Isn’t Scaling
Check to make sure your CRO is scaling and growing as much as your company.
What Does Great Look Like in a Chief Revenue Officer?
Over the two-plus decades of working closely with CROs I figured out what “great” looks like and I’ve found that there are five things that great CROs do
Startup Boards, the book, and also why they matter more than ever these days
We’ve done a lot of work around startup boards at Bolster the past couple of years, including working with over 30 CEOs to help them hire amazing new independent board members.
Women Are (Slowly) Gaining Board Seats
Over the past several years, there has been a lot of public attention surrounding board diversity
A CEO’s Guide to Seeking Advice & Mentorship
One of the most common questions we’re asked at Bolster is how to help a CEO find a mentor or advisor
Should You Go Fractional at Work?
6 questions to ask yourself before making the switch to an independent career
7 Habits of Highly Effective Boards
Creating strong boards can help propel a board forward. Weak and ineffective boards hold a company back.
How to Remove Your Full-Time Hiring Hat to Hire An Interim or Project-Based Executive
Hiring an Interim leader can be a great solution when you have an executive leader leave your organization unexpectedly.
When to Hire your First Chief Revenue Officer
In most startups, the founder is the first salesperson and while it may be difficult to let that go you’ll eventually scale, add sales reps, or maybe some form of a Sales Manager once there are more than a couple of reps.
How to Think About Employee Retention in an Economy Where Your Execs Just Want a Change
To better understand the impact of the Great Resignation on C-level executives in the United States, we analyzed the profiles of 5,000+ Bolster members.
What is a Fractional Executive
One of our Bolster members, Connie Kwan, who runs a popular newsletter Product Maestro, wrote an excellent article last week for her audience about how to work on your elevator pitch when kicking off a fractional career
4 Easy Ways for Any CEO to Choose a Mentor
How to frame your thinking about choosing a mentor whether it’s for business or personal reasons.
Joining the Fractional Executive Movement
For the past six weeks, I’ve been quietly piloting the next chapter in my career that of the fractional executive
Signs Your CFO isn't Scaling
While all the functions of a team are needed, perhaps the most critical function to make sure your company is able to scale is the CFO
Welcome to Bolster Prime
If you are a CEO who loves to learn, believes that you can learn from someone who has “been there, done that” and wants to not just grow but scale your startup so that you can drive value further, faster, check out Bolster Prime.
The Roots of Bolster Prime and Bolster Ventures
We are announcing the launch of a new program called Bolster Prime, and a new venture capital fund called Bolster Ventures, to empower the innovation economy. The roots of Bolster Prime and Bolster Ventures pre-date the founding of Bolster.
Bolster Launches Bolster Prime and Bolster Ventures to Drive Success in High Growth Early Stage Companies
Bolster, the marketplace for on-demand executive talent, is excited to announce the launch of Bolster Prime, an 18-month mentoring program, and Bolster Ventures, an early-stage venture fund for Bolster Prime customers.
How to Improve Your Executive Brand Online to Land the Exec and Board Roles You Want
Is the state of your brand online designed to help you achieve your next professional goal? Most don’t know the answer to this question because they don’t google themselves like they google others. Read on to tap into the critical skills today’s execs need to take control of their online presence. And to go deeper, you can also request access to the webinar recording on this topic.
Bolster Raises $11M Series B Financing to Harness the Future of Work Through On-Demand Executive Talent
Bolster, the marketplace for on-demand executive talent, announced today its Series B financing of $11 million to harness the forces driving the future of work for executives and venture-backed startups.
Bolster Your Profile for 2022
The new year is a great time to take control of your personal brand across all online channels, including your Bolster profile, and this post will get you started. It also gives you access to a special workshop to teach you how to develop a powerful executive presence online that will support the achievement of your next professional goals.
Getting the Help you Need in 2022 - Faster
Speeding up the time to hire can have positive impacts for you, your organization, and the candidate. We offer some tips to help make the hiring process more effective.
How Savvy CEOs Are Turning the Talent Crisis into a Talent Opportunity
Macro conditions around a COVID workforce
What Does “Great” Look Like in a CFO?
A great CFO will spend time learning and steeping themselves in the substance of the business.
When is it Time to Hire Your First Chief Financial Officer
Depending on the complexity of your business you might be able to hold off on hiring a full-time CFO, but if you have any of these signs then it’s time to start thinking about bringing someone on board
New Series: When and How to Hire Each CXO
This series is intended for any C-level executive or board member involved with startups.
How to Engage with Your CFO
As a CEO I learned that the best way to help people grow and develop, and to further develop a better understanding of each other, is to engage with them in a mix of work and non-work settings.
Why the Startup Sales Function Starts With “Whiteboards”
In most startups, one of the founders is the first salesperson — often out of necessity as much as passion. But as startups scale they add sales reps or maybe some form of a Sales Manager once there are more than a couple of reps.
How Busting Your Bias on Resumes Can Maximize Diversity
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
On-demand Executive Talent Market Trends
Bolster has successfully matched over 100 executives to open roles
The Three Roles of a CXO
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.
5 Crucial End-of-Year Projects (And How to Outsource Them)
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.
How to Scale Yourself as a CXO
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.
Date before you get Engaged: How to Jumpstart New Execs as On-Demand Workers
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?
4 Can't-Miss Panels to Support Summer Business Planning
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!
10 Scenarios Where On-Demand Executives Work Best
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.
Our Ebook: How to Succeed in Your First Board Role
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.
Our Ebook: How to Build Your Board
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.
How to know if you're doing a good job as a Board Member
On many boards there isn’t a formal review process for board members.
How to Evaluate Your Board
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.
Interviewing for an On-Demand Role
How interviewing is like auditioning for a play
Giving Difficult Feedback and Making Your Voice Heard
Two common communication challenges that board members face, particularly first-time board members, are making sure their voice is heard and giving difficult feedback
The Anatomy of a Great Profile
How can Bolster members make sure their profile is the best it can be?
How to Build a Bench or Advisory Board
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
Webinar Recap: Your Company’s DEI Journey -- Let’s Make a Plan!
Insights from four DEI experts on how to craft a DEI(B) plan at your company.
When Things Aren’t Black and White: How to Deal With Murky Areas
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.
How to Compensate Independent Directors
There are several elements of a compensation package you need to know about for an independent board member
Ascend Panel Recap: How To Be An On-Demand Executive -- Stories From Real Bolster Members
Bolster’s partner, Ascend, hosted a panel discussion about the path to on-demand executive work.
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.