“Board” sounds heavy, right? Leather chairs, minutes, people in suits.
Forget that. For a growing company, an advisory board can start with one person.
Think about what changes when a company goes from “we’ll figure it out” to “we’re growing.” Decisions get more expensive. A bad hire costs more. Losing a big client hurts more. And the partners start to genuinely disagree, which, by the way, is healthy.
That’s when insecurity shows up. It’s not a lack of competence. It’s a lack of an outside view, with enough distance to see what the people inside can no longer see.
An advisor doesn’t give orders, doesn’t execute, and doesn’t replace anyone. An advisor:
- asks the questions nobody wants to ask in the meeting;
- looks at the whole business before you hire a specialist for each piece;
- follows the numbers and reports, and flags what looks off;
- helps you tell the urgent decision from the important one.
There are three ways to start:
- Dedicated Advisor: regular support as needed, with oversight and follow-up of reports and numbers.
- Fractional Advisor (individual): one meeting per month, plus WhatsApp support.
- Fractional Advisor (peer group): up to 4 companies sharing the room to talk about their pains and learn together.
It works best for small companies with 2 or 3 partners that already generate enough revenue to justify the investment, are organized and want to grow. It’s not the path for those putting out fires: mediating a crisis isn’t the focus.
A question to take with you: in the last big decision of your company, who from the outside did you listen to?
What if you didn’t have to decide everything alone? An advisor, even just one, changes the quality of the questions you ask yourself. Curious how it would work in your company? Take a look at the advisory work or tell me where you are.