I attended the Colorado Software and Internet Associations "C" Level Event at Mile High the other night. What a wonderful event and truly a success. This was the second year of the event and if it keeps going like this it is going to be tough for them to find a place to have all of the people. If you are unaware of the event this year CSIA brought together 600 people at Mile High including 45 "C" level technology executives which companies could "bid" on setting up a meeting with them with all of the money going to charity. It was so successful that they were able to raise over $150,000 for scholarships.

I was asked to attend by some of our advisors that are either on boards for our clients now or are in our advisory peer group and were part of the "C" level group that was being bid on. Advisory Board Architects was well represented having dozens of those "C" levels associated with us. As a matter of fact two of our advisors Jim Lubinski CIO at Western Union and Robert Urwiler CIO at Vail Resorts both went for some of the top dollars, I think over $3,000 each. Another one of our advisors Steven Foster President of Business Controls whose company was one of the sponsors of the event and also was invaluable in making the event such a success, garnered quite a bit of interest as well. I met some interesting companies and other executives as well who might end up being good advisors for our clients.

All this excitement got me thinking though, most companies are in need of strategic advice and relationships especially many of the companies that attended this event were there for this reason. It got me thinking what are these winning companies going to be pitching to these executives now that they have their attention and how do they know they need their product or service? As I mentioned to a CEO of a small technology company who did not win a bid with an executive, have you ever thought of building an advisory board with multiple "C" level individuals on it?

How powerful would it be for your business to put 4-8 of these individuals in a room together once a quarter to give you strategic advice on not only how to grow your business but how to shape your offering, provide you with strategic introductions, get insight on your competitors, launch into a new vertical market, prepare and evaluate exit strategies, deal with human capital and growth issues, develop the right technology platform or even approach someone like them in a way that would increase your potential for business. Any number of different high level, very strategic and highly critical information points for any company to know. Even the most accomplished executive can't know all of the successful strategies around these issues specific to their business or industry so why not rely on executives that have those types of experiences that you otherwise could never hire.

The key isn't in getting them to buy into the advisory / mentoring concept as I mentioned almost half of the executives that were at the event are either on boards for Advisory Board Architects clients or want to be on an ABA board. Knowing many of these individuals personally I know they have helped companies in an advisory board capacity before. The key as we have learned and will discuss in future blogs is the right structure to attract the right board members and keeping them engaged for the long term. The process of running a board to their benefit from both a time and compensation standpoint and reducing their liability and conflicts of interest are critical components to any board.

So for the CEO's that I spoke with at the event and all those others who wonder how ABA and other companies build those all star boards if positioned and set up the right way it can be done. Now that you know you can think big when it comes to your advisory board be careful to ensure that before you go hitting these guys up to help you have your processes and procedures in place that will make the board a successful venture for all involved because building an advisory board at this level leaves no room for failure.