Article · 12 min read

8 Tips To Get the Most Out of Your Investors and Board

Mark Suster · Both Sides of the Table Free Intermediate

Suster, a former founder turned VC, hands you the exact line for the advise-versus-decide boundary: when he disagrees with a CEO he says, 'I see it slightly differently, but you live in this business every day so I'll yield to your judgment. Let's revisit in 6 months.' That is the move in reverse: you can steelman your investor's push, name your disagreement out loud, then take the wheel and set a checkpoint, so no one feels steamrolled and the relationship survives the 'no.'

  • Board members advise, the CEO decides. Debate hard, then go make the call with your exec team, don't let the board meeting become an approval meeting
  • Formalize a disagreement with a revisit date ('let's check in 6 months') so a 'no' reads as conviction plus accountability, not stubbornness
  • Earn the right to push back forcefully by over-communicating and building a real relationship with each investor long before the hard conversation
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The question it answers

  1. One of my investors is pushing hard for a strategy I disagree with. How do I say no without burning the relationship?

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