The purpose of the Deep Dive is to facilitate important strategic discussions. Deep Dives are meant to be forward-looking and hopefully help to unlock awesome value from your board members.
- Carve out at least 45 minutes for discussion per Deep Dive.
- As we mentioned, don't be afraid to ask your board for help generally and definitely ask ‘em for help when you get to the Deep Dives. That’s what they’re there for. Just be sure to be clear about what you need help with. It’s okay to say you don’t know the best way to approach a problem.
- A great way to do this is by including the questions you'd like to have answered by the end of the Deep Dive session in your board materials.
- Understand the areas where your board members can be doing the most to help you, such as major market or economic shifts, company pivots, complex agreements or deal structures, valuable introductions, fundraising, overseas expansion, sourcing talent, and messy legal issues.
"Board meetings should be discussions... Some CEOs make the mistake of driving the Board line by line through the agenda, cutting off meaty discussions in the name of staying on schedule. The purpose of Board meetings are to have these meaty discussions not to get through the agenda on time."
-Fred Wilson, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures,AVC.com