Are celebrity investors/advisors/board members worth it?
November 3, 2009
I recently read two posts on this subject, one from Altos Ventures and one from Chris Dixon and I agree with the key theme that celebrity (the term that i would use is “big name” not necessarily famous but known like a politician or well connected person locally) are not worth it:
“ In our experience, celebrity investors and board members do little to help entrepreneurs do what they need to get done. They offer little in the way of strategic or practical advice about hiring, firing, product development, closing deals and financing. Even worse, sometimes the advice can be out of touch with what is going on in the industry or company but due to their celebrity status, some off the cuff comments can carry too much weight.”
I would go one step further and say that the number of “big name” people on a board probably has a inverse relationship with the quality of the start-up, the more “big names” on the board the lower the caliber of the idea and team. In other circumstances I have seen, the “celebrity” board members are used for fundraising only. Look Mr. Rich, former Mayor so and so is on our board as well as former university standout such and such, If they are in shouldn’t you be?
“No matter how big your board or how well connected your advisors are they will NEVER produce the quantity or quality of leads your own team will produce”
