Board meetings provide the 3 month view on the 12 month plan into the 36 month journey. When done well they accelerate a company’s growth. — The purpose of the board meeting is to provide the 3 month view on the 12 month plan into the 36 month journey. When done well, a board meeting rolls a leadership team up out of the day to day, and aligns them through critical and realistic synthesis of performance…

From 9+ years I’ve gathered 7 key ways to keep committees on track and members engaged in an all volunteer organization. — This weekend I had the honor of being the opening speaker for the Junior League of Baltimore’s 2021–2022 Leadership Team! The Leadership Team consists of 20+ women who are leveling up their own development as chairs of the JLB’s many committees. For those that don’t know, the Junior League of…

Rather than looking towards what you want to accomplish next year, double-down on what you refuse to take “un-done” past the current year. — A few years ago I started making an “anti-resolutions list” at the end of the year. As someone with an early December birthday, I consider myself lucky in that I get a reflective head start on one year coming to an end, and another nearing its beginning. …

The best way to prevent people problems is build 1:1 meetings into your company from day one. And yes, even if you’re all in the same room. — When it comes to the challenges that startups face, the most preventable are the people problems. And most people problems arise because of a lack of opportunity for communication. The best way to prevent these people problems is to build the practice of 1:1 meetings into your startup from day…

In the last few months we’ve made impactful changes to the way we review companies. We’re holding ourselves accountable to connecting with… — In the last few months we’ve made impactful changes to the way we review companies. We’re holding ourselves accountable to connecting with founders earlier, finding opportunities outside of our immediate network, and measuring the team composition and commitment to diversity of entrepreneurs we’re evaluating.

There’s nothing that will end evaluation of a team faster than someone on the investment committee saying “They just don’t seem coachable.” — There’s no comment that will end the evaluation of an early stage founding team more swiftly than someone on the investment committee saying “They just don’t seem coachable.” While I’m just as guilty as anyone of making this statement, I’d never seen a good explanation of what this really means…

After 6 years running an analytics company that I cofounded, I took a year off. 90 days in at an early-stage VC, this is what I’ve learned. — This article was originally published on April 28, 2020 in Technical.ly Baltimore. In the spring of 2013, I cofounded a data analytics company. I had graduated from a Johns Hopkins masters’ program the previous spring, taken the summer off, and got hired in the fall to help spin up programming…