SmartHippo advisory board meeting (photo by Bill Rice)

We have an awesome advisory board at SmartHippo and I often get asked how we set it up and how we leverage the people on it. If you run a startup, particularly if you’re early stage, a good advisory board can be one of the best investments you can make.

Here are some tips on how to make it work:

Who to include on your advisory board

• Thought leaders or other well respected people in your industry.
• Door openers who can introduce you to customers, channel partners or investors.
• Superstars who you wish you could have on your management team but can’t afford.
• Strive for a balance of people with different areas of expertise who may not all think the same way.

Who not to include on an advisory board

• Token individuals who are there just in name but who aren’t actually engaged in your business. You don’t want someone conducting diligence on you or your company to call up an advisor only to find out they don’t remember who you are.
• Angel or institutional investors who have not invested in your startup. This doesn’t send a good signal, since if they really believed in you they would have invested.

Receruiting and compensating your advisory board

Most people will be flattered to know that you see them as an authority in your industry and will be open to learning more about your business and providing you with feedback. At this point, the easiest way to get people to join your advisory board is just to ask.

If you’re early stage, you’ll typically be compensating your advisory board in stock options. 1/4 to 1/2 point of equity, vested over four years is a good guideline.

Getting the most out of your advisory board

Remember that your advisors are busy full time with other things. Respect the value of their time and be as specific as you can with requests you send their way. (i.e. “I’d like your feedback on our go to market plan” or “Are you able to introduce us to a C-level executive at company X.”)

For many advisors, aside from the longer term payoff from stock options, meeting and learning from other smart people can be a big motivator. At SmartHippo we also make it a point to organize an annual advisory board meeting where we fly all of our advisors into town and combine a day of updates and strategy meetings with social events. Make it fun!

Does your startup have an advisory board or are you thinking of setting one up? Share your experience in the comments below.

• January 8: Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast
• January 8: MySQL Montreal meetup by Morgan Tocker of MySQL (7pm at our offices)
• January 9: Yulblog, a casual get-together of Montreal bloggers (6pm 8pm at La Quincaillerie on Mont-Royal)
• January 15: Montreal On Rails
• January 23: StartupCamp Montreal
• January 28-30: Demo ’08. Okay, this is not actually happening in Montreal, but Montreal startup StandoutJobs will be launching there.

Speaking of web building, here’s a video about just that subject:

After a few years we drifted away from our original starting point as a company (read we followed our clients’ needs and the money) plus we didn’t have anything to do with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) anymore.

Although we still deal with customers everyday, our focal point and passion moved to new horizons (and new buzzwords); marketing, optimization, targeting, social networks, intent, scent, social marketing, crowd sourcing, behaviour, etc.

In a nutshell, we are now more than ever finding new ways to build new relationships with consumers for their benefit and the companies serving them. In a few more words, we are providing campaign management and lead generation, customers acquisition, marketing and revenue optimization services to large and mid size companies in the United States with a strong core in financial services.

Reflexity continues to push the boundaries and redefine the way consumers and financial service providers connect. One such example is the beta launch last fall of SmartHippo, with the participation of banks such as Quicken Loans, Bank of Internet and Countrywide Bank. And you can get community-contributed rates and reviews on almost any bank imaginable, from national banks such as Wells Fargo or ING Direct to regional or local players like Boston Pacific Mortgage or Safe Harbor Mortgage.

2008 is already off to a great start, so stayed tuned for many more developments. And in case you were wondering, yes, we’re hiring.

• “One hopeful developer is George Favvas, who wants to make an application to promote his start-up, SmartHippo.com, which lets homebuyers compare mortgage rates between banks. ‘What we’re doing is inherently social, using the power of community to share information,’ Favvas said. ‘We want to let users be advocates for an application that fills a need.’”
  Montreal Gazette
  

• “What a huge step for consumers to be able to see the feedback on these companies, or just to have any information on these companies that are calling them.”
  Leadcritic
  

• “I know the banks could use a good kick in the pants (I use a local credit union, myself) and maybe an angry herd of consumer hippos could be just the ticket.”
  Blognation
  

• “Especially with the recent mortgage crisis in the US people are more cautious than ever about the rates that they are able to receive and maybe even a bit distrustful of the lending companies. This is the first website of its kind to offer a place to compare and contrast lenders.”
  KillerStartups
  
• “There’s a strong imbalance in the information that each side has, and my friends at SmartHippo have just launched a site to help correct that imbalance. If you’re getting a mortgage, or just want to compare, check these folks out. I really like what they’re doing and where they’re going.”
  Emergent Chaos
  
• “Encore en construction, (SmartHippo) ne s’adresse, pour le moment, qu’aux consommateurs américains. Plus précisément, à ceux qui désirent comparer différents taux hypothécaires obtenus par des gens dans la même situation qu’eux. Grâce à cela, ils seront mieux informés au moment de négocier leur propre hypothèque.”
  La Presse (article in French)