When I talk to entrepreneurs about working with them, I make it a point of saying that my business is based on the assumption that they will have a better of chance of success if I am actively helping them versus if I’m not. Therefore, if I invest in a company, I require them to make me an advisor. And yes, it’s also a form of investment protection for me since I’m watching over my money by being involved.
One might think that if I were to invest, that the advisorship wasn’t necessary. I would be tied to the company through the investment and the ownership that comes with it, and probably care greatly about the company’s progress and help when I can. In some sense it’s true.
But I have already come across cases where even though people SAY they want my help, they really don’t. They just want my money. One way to test that, besides watching my intuition about these things closely, is to see if they will sign me up as advisor.
When they do that, they need to be willing to compensate me for the advisorship. Since I deal with early stage internet companies, often pre-funding, I told myself long ago that I would not ask for cash payment like a consultant. Many people who do what I do will ask for consultant hourly fees to work with a company as an advisor. But I cannot. An early stage startup barely has cash already; to drain them of whatever little savings they may have could cripple or destroy the company. I would rather that they take that cash and build the business. In fact, I don’t think they would sign me up if I were to ask for cash. So I ask for options to equity, vesting over my term which is typically between a year to two years.
If they are willing to give up some of their options pool for me, then that is definitely a good sign that they are actively seeking my help since they are giving up some form of payment to me. It’s not 100% reliable, but there is nothing better than seeing a company give up something like cash or equity to ensure their engagement in you; they’re giving up valuable options that they could give to someone else like an employee, but instead they are giving it to me, so they better utilize me and get their money’s worth!
Being an advisor also clarifies my involvement in the eyes of outside world and within the company. I don’t want to be perceived as a bothersome investor, who keeps sticking his nose into the company’s business. With me, I’d be bugging people about product strategy, the user experience, and online advertising all day long. Without a statement of purpose like “David Shen is our advisor and he will help us in X, Y, and Z”, it becomes that much harder to communicate and reinforce why I’m hanging out with the company. I believe with that clarity comes acceptance that my advice will be given, and that they should listen. If they aren’t ok with that, then issues would come up during the advisor signup process in which case maybe it wouldn’t make sense for me to get involved with the company, if they don’t perceive my help as valuable. By the way, this has happened already.
It also clarifies in my mind what I’m supposed to do every week. If I’m signed up as advisor, I have an obligation to help them since I want to earn my options. If my term is over, then I can mentally shift and focus on the other companies whose terms are still on-going.
So is my help going to continue after the term? This part is still a bit undefined since my business is so new. A few thoughts on this:
If I’m an investor, I’ll always be around until I exit the investment. To what extent I am involved depends on the state of the company at the time of end of my advisor term.
I always tell people that by the end of my term, my goal is to teach you everything I know, help you get people in place to permanently take on what I have brought to the table, and bring on any relationships you need through my network. Generally, I think one year terms are too short to do this, but 2 years is a bit beyond the point of finishing this task. So somewhere between 1 to 2 years is where I think I’ll accomplish those goals (it’s very uncommon to do 1.5 year terms even if I think it fits my mental timeline of when I’ll finish my goals). For that reason I like 2 year terms better than 1 year, or else I think that the chance of not accomplishing those goals is high and if my advisorship does not get renewed for another year, then I’ll feel like my job with them is unfinished. So theoretically, if I do accomplish all that, then you’ll have people and relationships in place to do everything I helped you with, and only need minimal involvement from me post-advisor term.
I believe that when people see what value I have brought to them during my advisor term, that they will keep me engaged after my term ends. But I can’t keep shepherding them in their tasks; they need to be able to function effectively by themselves since I’m not an employee. And thus it’s critical that they hire great people who can do all the things I helped them with, and I will be helping with that aspect as well.
However, if they really want to lock-in my involvement post-advisor term, they should renew my advsior contract and we’ll keep going officially.
So far, being an advisor has been a rewarding experience. As I do my work, I am pretty active and aggressive at checking in and seeing opportunities and throwing ideas over to the entrepreneurs. I have found that they have really appreciated it. Anecdotely, I am finding that I am outpacing most, if not all, of the other advisors that they have brought on. I find this to be an interesting revelation. It seems to me that traditionally most advisors are only called upon very sparingly. Perhaps it’s because I’m an investor in some of these companies that I care more and want them to succeed; but I also am pretty regular in checking in with companies which are quiet at the moment.
Because of my seemingly extra effort, some of them have offered to find some way to thank me beyond what compensation we’ve agreed on. While I appreciate it, I do not expect it. The satisfaction I get in helping these entrepreneurs, seeing my help get them to success, getting caught up their energy and excitement for their company and product, being a part of the celebrations of closing their series A funding or their first $1 MM of revenue – it’s ample reward to know that I am part of that and that my help is being actively utilized, appreciated, and validation that my help is worth it.