Getting the Most out of Your Technical Advisor A technical advisor can be a key person throughout a company's life cycle. Not only can they help get a business off the ground but can be a valuable resource later on.
By Will Koffel
This story originally appeared on FounderDating
A strong relationship with a technical advisor is a necessity for all early-stage founders who are building technology products -- whether you are using a contractor, off-shore team or full-time staff. In later stages, your technical advisor can continue to be a trusted ear for you and a useful resource for your own growing technical team.
Through my work as an independent advisor and with organizations like Mass Challenge, Founder Mentors, and NEVCA's Critical Mass, I've been a compensated advisor (cash and/or equity) to at least a half dozen startups, a pro-bono advisor to a few dozen and an occasional advisor to hundreds.
A good technical advisor will provide benefits including:
- Vetting and interviewing potential technical hires
- Leveraging experience to suggest the best tools and services you can trust
- Ensuring the right stuff is being built in the right order, protecting you from spending in the wrong places too early
- Picking a development methodology and process that helps you work effectively with your development team and keep your product build on schedule
Related: The Master List: Questions to Ask Potential Advisors
Finding a technical advisor
When you look for a technical advisor, you want to find someone who has deep technical experience, especially in areas you care about (i.e big data, user-generated content, mobile applications). But skip the techies who are coming to you with an agenda. You don't want them pitching their pet technologies but rather offering the best solution for your unique business.Often, you can reach out to strong technical leaders (CTOs usually) at other startups. Pitch them on your idea, let them know why you need their help. A genuine interest in cultivating the best technical operation you can goes a long way towards making us want to help you.
Make the most of an advisor
Now that you have the attention of a great technical advisor, here's some advice from an advisor's perspective on how you can get the best out of us.
Show a genuine interest in the tech and execution side of your business. We get excited by your entrepreneurial curiosity, and we're proud of the tech and product experience we bring to the table. Ask us questions, dig in deep. We're here to discuss with you, not to lecture at you. It's not useful for anyone if we are spoon-feeding generic answers across the table.
Related: Looking for an Edge for Your Startup? Call in the Sharks.
Do your homework. It's demoralizing to be asked questions that Google can answer faster and more completely than us. If you come prepared into a conversation, it's more productive and enjoyable for everyone.
Ask "why." Since you've done your homework and have a sense of what your options are, we're happy to tell you which option is right for you. Unfortunately, not nearly enough of my advisees follow up with "why?" You should want to know why that's the best option for your business or for your team. Why should you want to know? Because of the "teach a man to fish..." principle, and because your tech team will respect you more if you understand the why.
Teach us back. We're not working with you for our health or because of a community service court order. We think you are smart, interesting and have something to teach us too. Make sure this relationship is a two-way street and don't be surprised when we turn the tables and start picking your brain in return.
What to avoid
Stop Pitching Us. You wouldn't believe how many times I sit down for coffee with an advisee, only to have them spend 45 minutes telling me all about how the business is progressing, what the latest product ideas are, how much money they are definitely going to raise and why it's all going to change the world. There's a time and an audience for that, but you've just wasted a whole meeting with someone who was there to help you, and you've gotten no value out of it.
Related: How to Score an Advisor When Your Startup Has No Money
Don't get defensive. We are spending our valuable time helping you out because we want you to succeed. We aren't a competitor, we aren't your boss and we don't have a hidden agenda to sink your idea. If you succeed, we look good and we're proud to be associated with your success. Take our advice for what it's worth and then implement it or not. You are running the show here, no need to get defensive.
Don't be excessively legal. Okay, so that doesn't mean be illegal, of course. Rather, don't start shoving NDAs and IP assignment agreements at a technical advisor early in the relationship, or ever for that matter. Tech people are the most skeptical bunch when it comes to politics and legal mumbo-jumbo. If you do want to stamp an agreement to protect both parties, keep it simple. Check out the Founder Institute's FAST for a good starting place.
We're not your code monkey. If you are secretly hoping that you can get your technical advisor to fix your team's code or to build some part of your app in their advisory hours, put that thought aside. Many advisors will be happy to establish a separate consulting agreement if you want to pay us by the hour to get more hands-on. Keep those two parts of the relationship separate and everyone will be happier.
This post was edited for brevity and clarity. You can read the original post on FounderDating.
