Independent directors for startups

Ryan Caldbeck, is the COO of Dune, a powerful analytics platform for blockchain research. It can be used to query, extract, and visualize vast amounts of data on the Ethereum blockchain. Ryan was previously the founder, and CEO of CircleUp, a technology platform focused on finding and evaluating private companies. He is also an angel investor in several high-growth technology companies.

In this episode of lab to startup, we talk about the role of independent directors at startups; how to find them and work with them; how they can mediate between the other board directors like investors and the CEO; when and how long to bring them on for. We do a deep dive into the topic of building trust, not only with the IDs, but also other members of the startup like employees, co-founders, board of directors and others.

Shownotes:
- https://ryancaldbeck.co
- Tweet storm about independent directors:  https://twitter.com/ryan_caldbeck/status/1651441866213318656
- Who is an independent director (ID)
- How to pick them
- What and where do you look for them?
- Trust = (Reliability x Credibility x Authenticity) / Self-Interest.
- Building trust
- Writing the job description for an ID
- How IDs can mediate between investors and the CEO
- Receiving and offering feedback
- What point of the startup journey should we bring on an ID? How many?
- Etiquette to building a relation with independent directors
- IDs and board members interacting with upper management