Most founders assemble advisory boards for the wrong reasons. They want credibility by association. They want impressive names on the website. They want to signal to investors that serious people believe in the company. And they end up with a list of people who ghost meetings, don’t respond to emails, and contribute nothing beyond their initial “yes.”
An advisory board should be a strategic asset. A group of experienced operators who provide guidance on specific challenges, open doors you can’t open yourself, and tell you hard truths when you need to hear them. But most advisory boards are performance theater: names on a page that make the founder feel legitimate without actually making the company stronger.
If you’re going to build an advisory board, build one that works. Here’s what that actually looks like.
What an Advisory Board Actually Is (And Isn’t)
An advisory board is a group of external advisors who provide strategic guidance, industry expertise, or network access without the fiduciary responsibility or legal authority of a formal board of directors. They don’t vote on governance matters. They don’t have legal liability. They advise, introduce, and challenge but they don’t control.
This structure makes advisory boards easier to assemble than formal boards, but it also makes them easier to ignore. There’s no legal obligation forcing advisors to show up or founders to listen. The relationship works only if both sides see value and maintain accountability through structure, not obligation.
The mistake most founders make is treating advisory boards like a badge collection instead of a working group. They recruit people based on titles rather than relevance. They don’t define clear roles or expectations. They schedule meetings sporadically or not at all. And they wonder why no one engages.
Don’t Recruit for Prestige. Recruit for Gaps.
The best advisory boards are built around specific gaps in the founder’s knowledge, network, or capability. You don’t need advisors who think like you or come from your background. You need people who know things you don’t and can open doors you can’t reach.
Before you recruit anyone, map your actual needs. Are you entering a new market and need someone with local operating experience? Are you struggling with fundraising and need someone with investor relationships? Are you scaling operations and need someone who’s built teams in similar environments?
Once you know what gaps you’re filling, recruiting becomes easier because you can be specific about what you’re asking for. “I need advice on navigating regulatory compliance in East Africa” is a much clearer ask than “I’d love to have you on my advisory board.”
I’ve helped founders build advisory boards where every member had a defined mandate. One advisor focused on market entry strategy. Another on partnership development. A third on navigating donor relationships. Because their roles were clear, they knew when to engage and what value they were expected to deliver.
Make the Value Exchange Explicit
Advisory relationships fail when expectations are vague. Advisors agree to join because they like the founder or believe in the mission, but they don’t know what’s actually expected. Founders assume advisors will self-direct, but advisors are waiting to be asked.
Make the value exchange explicit from the start. What are you asking them to contribute? How much time per month or quarter? What format works best for them — calls, emails, in-person meetings? What are they getting in return — equity, cash, access to your network, visibility, satisfaction from supporting the mission?
The more specific you are, the easier it is for advisors to say yes and follow through. Vague invitations attract vague commitments. Clear asks attract people who know exactly what they’re signing up for and whether they can deliver.
In one case, a founder recruited an advisor by saying, “I need two hours per quarter to review partnership strategy and one introduction per year to donors in your network. In exchange, I’m offering 0.5% equity vested over two years and quarterly updates on impact metrics.” The advisor said yes immediately because the ask was reasonable and the structure was clear.
Structure Meetings Around Decisions, Not Updates
Most advisory board meetings are wasted. The founder gives a 30-minute update on what’s happened since the last meeting, advisors nod politely, someone asks a few questions, and the call ends with no decisions made and no clear next steps.
If you want advisors to engage, structure meetings around decisions. What strategic choice are you facing? What trade-offs are you weighing? What input do you need to move forward confidently? Give advisors the context upfront, frame the decision clearly, and ask for their perspective.
This shifts the meeting from status theater to strategic dialogue. Advisors show up because their input matters. They stay engaged because they see their advice lead to action. And you get better guidance because you’re asking specific questions rather than hoping someone volunteers useful insight.
One founder I worked with redesigned his advisory meetings from quarterly updates to decision briefs. Each meeting covered one major strategic question. Attendance went from 50% to 90%, and the quality of advice improved dramatically because advisors knew exactly what was being asked of them.
Compensate Fairly Without Overcommitting Equity
Advisory board compensation is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the relationship. Founders either offer nothing and hope goodwill is enough, or they give away too much equity to people who contribute very little.
Fair compensation depends on the advisor’s level of involvement and the stage of your company. Early-stage companies with no revenue typically offer equity — usually between 0.25% and 1% for active advisors, vesting over two to four years. Later-stage companies with revenue might offer cash retainers, project-based fees, or smaller equity stakes.
The key is matching compensation to actual contribution. An advisor who meets once a quarter and makes occasional introductions shouldn’t receive the same equity as someone who’s actively involved in strategic decisions and regularly opening doors.
I’ve seen founders give 2% equity to advisors who attended two meetings and then disappeared. That equity could have gone to someone who actually helped. Be generous with people who deliver, but don’t commit equity based on prestige alone.
Hold Advisors Accountable (And Let Them Go When Necessary)
Advisory boards aren’t permanent. If an advisor stops engaging, doesn’t deliver on commitments, or turns out to be a bad fit, you need to transition them out. Most founders avoid this conversation because it feels awkward, but keeping disengaged advisors wastes everyone’s time and dilutes the effectiveness of the group.
Build accountability into the structure from the start. Set a term length — one or two years — with an option to renew. Include vesting cliffs so equity doesn’t fully vest if the advisor disengages early. And check in periodically to make sure the relationship is still working for both sides.
In one engagement, a founder realized that half his advisory board hadn’t contributed anything meaningful in over a year. We helped him have exit conversations with the inactive members, framed as mutual recognition that priorities had shifted. The remaining advisors became far more engaged because they knew their participation actually mattered.
Build for Engagement, Not Optics
The best advisory boards are small, focused, and actively engaged. Three to five advisors who show up and contribute are infinitely more valuable than ten names on your website who never respond to emails.
If you’re building an advisory board, start with one or two people who fill critical gaps and prove the model works. Once you’ve demonstrated that advisors add value and you can manage the relationship effectively, add more. But don’t recruit for the sake of filling seats or impressing investors with a long list.
Advisory boards are tools, not trophies. Build them to work.
Want to go deeper on building advisory boards that actually work?
I deliver a 90-minute executive briefing called No More Ghost Advisors: How to Build a Board That Actually Shows Up and Delivers. It covers the full process: how to identify the right advisors for your actual gaps, structure compensation without wasting equity, design meetings that drive decisions instead of status updates, and hold advisors accountable without awkwardness.
This session is built for founders who are tired of collecting impressive names that contribute nothing, or who are about to build their first advisory board and want to avoid the mistakes most people make.
Learn more and book the briefing here.
Final Thoughts
An advisory board that actually functions requires clarity, structure, and mutual accountability. Most founders skip these steps and end up with a group of people who agreed to help but never do.
If you’re building an advisory board or trying to fix one that isn’t working, focus on roles, expectations, and decision-oriented engagement. The advisors who matter will appreciate the structure. The ones who don’t engage will self-select out.
Pholus works with founders and leadership teams to design governance structures that actually function, including advisory boards that deliver strategic value rather than cosmetic credibility. If you’re trying to build a board that works instead of one that just looks good, let’s talk.
