Understand how Advisory Boards can accelerate your venture.

Building a high growth company and leading it through growth stages is hard. Doing it alone is much, much harder.

As a company expands into new markets, complementary products or alternate business models, founders are forced to wear many hats to ensure growth is consistent and sustainable. Unfortunately, some hats fit better than others. This can result in critical gaps or unfinished pieces of work the company needs to go to the next stage. Skilled advice and the right mentoring can fill those gaps and ensure the completion of those pieces of work.

The best scaling businesses have the benefit of specialist advice backed by the rich experience; and not just the good, but the bad and the ugly too. Using this advice, they manage to avoid the mistakes that slow company growth down.

But not everyone starts their founder journey with amazing mentors, coaches and advisors to help them fill the gaps that scaling companies inevitably have. And whilst effective founders are self-aware enough to recognise that their journey is be more fulfilling and progresses faster when they seek expert knowledge from others, they often don’t know where to find those experts when they need them the most, and then, when they do find them, they don’t always how to ask for targeted help.

Add to this, that founders can seek advice in the wrong places due to their constraints (a lack of funds to pay an expert, lack of connections or lack of time to manage the relationship they form) and end up with the wrong advice or advice that will take them on a costly detour.

“The best founding teams are coachable. They know how to ask for help and know when to take it.” Danielle Storey, CEO Eastern Innovation

This is where advisory boards shine. An advisory board comprises a carefully selected group of people who guide founders and their teams through the growth phases that the company (and its team) have not experienced before.

The Advisors on effective advisory boards do more than provide domain knowledge, expertise and experience; they are completely committed to the company’s success. They individually provide lived insights, broker valuable connections and also offer constructive feedback on the journey to date. Collectively the Advisors work together to give founders both a safety net and the slingshot for momentum.

Eastern Innovation’s Global Advisory Program had clear evidence that advisory boards address problems such as:

• Lack of time
• Lack of experience in specific skill sets
• Customer loss
• Solvency issues
• Reduced market share
• Lack of funds

 Founders in the Program have experienced:

• Increased commercial confidence
• Reduced self-questioning
• Improved operational performance
• Increased customer acquisition
• Improved market agility
• Increased industry reputation

Globally, experts in innovation ecosystems acknowledge “founder know-how, experienced investors, advisors and mentors” as critical elements in the success or failure of scaling innovation businesses.

Innovation business anywhere in the world that need the right advice, mentoring, coaching or guidance, can reach out to the team at Eastern Innovation and learn more about the Global Advisory Program.

Author: Allira Cundy | Innovation Project Manager | Eastern innovaiton