Advisory Boards, Demystified

An evening for SWELL founders and board-ready women to learn how advisory boards work, find their fit and meet the people they could work with next.

The SWELL, a community for women founders, its founder Sally Revell, and Cate Goethals, founder-director of the UW Foster Women Board Director Development Program, are bringing two groups together: women founders from The SWELL, and board-ready executive women ready to advise.

We start by clearing up the confusion. A personal board, an advisory board, a board of directors and a specialist advisor each ask for different time, carry different responsibility and get paid in different ways. We will also hear from a founder and an advisor on their experinces.

Then we get to work. Founders map where they need advisors. Advisors map where they add the most value. You sit down together by topic and compare notes.

After the event we will help make introductions where there is a clear fit.

Who it's for

Women founders in The SWELL, at any stage and on any growth path, who want experienced advisors around them

Executive women, including graduates of Cate Goethals' board director program, who want to advise early-stage companies

Anyone already advising startups who wants to meet founders who could use them

What you'll leave with

A plain-English guide to five types of advisory board, with typical time commitments and terms

A completed Advisor Fit Map: your top gaps as a founder, or your strongest areas as an advisor

Conversations with people on the other side of the table who match your areas

A path to a curated introduction

Agenda

6:00pm Arrive, drinks and name tags

6:20pm Welcome from Sally Revell and Cate Goethals

6:30pm Fireside chat: an experienced advisor and a SWELL founder

7:05pm Map your fit: worksheet time

7:20pm Table rounds by topic

7:50pm What happens next

8:00pm Close

Hosts and speakers

Cate Goethals is founder-director of the Women Board Director Development Program at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, where she is an adjunct professor of leadership development and business communications. Her MBA class "Women at the Top" was named by Forbes as one of the ten most innovative MBA classes. She coaches executive women in transition and on their best pathways to portfolios of influence, including finding their best boards.

Sally Revell is the founder of The SWELL, a community for women founders at SURF Incubator in downtown Seattle. She spent 25 years in technology, including leadership roles at Google and Amazon, before becoming a founder herself.