Interview with Adam Murray Nielsen on Advisory Boards

In this insightful interview with investor and board advisor Adam Murray Nielsen, we explore the critical role of advisory boards in a company's journey, from its nascent startup phase to the challenges of scaling up. Nielsen shares his expert perspective on the common pitfalls founders face, such as key blind spots and the mistake of relying solely on internal teams for strategic decisions, and how a strong advisory board can serve as an invaluable strategic growth engine and source of expertise.

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Boardway: As an investor and board advisor, what blind spots do you often see in founders that a strong advisory board can help solve?

Adam: First of all many early stage founders are unaware of the value an advisory board can bring. They often try to tackle the problems themselves instead of surrounding themselves with people who bring relevant expertise.

I also often see founders having difficulties staying focused in reaching the most critical milestones and keeping the helicopter view. A strong advisory boards can help with this.

Boardway: How does the role of an advisory board shift when a company moves from startup phase to scaleup? 

Adam: The stakes are getting higher as the company starts the scale up phase and founders will have to take many decisions that will have high consequences for their business. If you find the right advisors who have already experienced such a journey you can have invaluable sparring.

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Boardway: What are the key benefits of having an advisory board – rather than a formal board – during the early stages of a startup?

Adam: The advisory board can act more freely as they are not having the formal responsibility unlike a professional board. They are typically engaged in a more informal and dynamic way matching the need for direct sparring with the founders. In an advisory board it is also easier to adjust the board and add extra advisors with specific domain knowledge when such need becomes apparent.

Finally, I believe that, while an advisory board do not have ‘duty of care’ responsibility, they can add just as much value as a professional board, especially in the early days of a startup.

Boardway: As an active investor and board advisor, are you seeing more startups use advisory boards as a strategic growth engine?

Adam: I do see that the best founders know how to seek the right advisors to help propelling their startup forward, especially in the growth stage. Unsure if it is growing trend in general.

Boardway: In your experience, what’s one mistake founders make when they rely only on their internal team for strategic decisions? And how can they avoid it?

Adam: Especially first time founders find themselves in a new territory and not taking in advice from people who have expert knowledge in a relevant area can result in wrong decisions that can have grave consequences and could be avoided. And you will be surprised of how many high caliber people are willing to help.

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