Three Types Of Startup Advisors You Might Not Have Thought About (But Will Help You Win)

Advisors can be so much more than social proof and tactical advice

Photo by Cliff Johnson on Unsplash

“Can we put you as an advisor in our deck? You don’t even need to do anything and we’ll give you equity. It would be a big help for our fundraise.” This was the proposition offered to me surprisingly frequently during my pre-Homebrew days. You see, the demand for “startup advisors” were going through a little bit of a boomlet.

AngelList had just started and their company profile page had a bunch of “Advisor” slots to populate that were displayed in the same visual design as investors and team members. This subtly started to create social proof pressure to fill out those available spaces in the most impressive way possible. Never underestimate the power of defaults!

Anyhow, fast-forward to 2021 and it almost feels like startup advisor roles have fallen a bit out of fashion as everyone scrambles to be an angel investor, a scout or solo capitalist. Many of the people who previously might not have had access to capital are now able to invest their own dollars, or someone else’s, and this has much greater social proof for both the company and the individual. Most of the companies we back figure out how to use advisors in compelling ways, it’s just not as public as it used to be.

That said, there are three types of advisors that I don’t see as commonly utilized by early stage startups — at least the ones we’re not advising ;-)

The “I’m Going To Recruit You Down the Road” Advisor

Great founders are always recruiting. Often for open roles but also playing the long game, building relationships with passive senior candidates who either aren’t ready to leave their current job, or are more interested in the opportunity once you’re a bit further along. Rather than just making a note to ‘grab coffee’ every once in a while, I suggest looking to bring them on as advisors. It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment on their part (or significant equity), but just start giving them some tie to your startup and some incentive to maintain the relationship. Obviously this won’t work if they’re current employed at a competitor but…