Board meeting preparation for the adversarial scenario, not the friendly one. Forces numbers-cold mastery, anticipates hard questions, builds a narrative that acknowledges weakness without losing the room. Use when preparing for a board meeting, an investor update, fundraising
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Board meeting preparation for the adversarial scenario, not the friendly one. Forces numbers-cold mastery, anticipates hard questions, builds a narrative that acknowledges weakness without losing the room. Use when preparing for a board meeting, an investor update, fundraising
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</> SKILL.md
board-prep.SKILL.md
---name: "board-prep"
description: "Board meeting preparation for the adversarial scenario, not the friendly one. Forces numbers-cold mastery, anticipates hard questions, builds a narrative that acknowledges weakness without losing the room. Use when preparing for a board meeting, an investor update, fundraising presentation, or any high-stakes adversarial review where every number must live in your head not just on a slide."
---# /em:board-prep — Board Meeting Preparation
**Command:** `/em:board-prep <agenda>`
Prepare for the adversarial version of your board, not the friendly one. Every hard question they'll ask. Every number you need cold. The narrative that acknowledges weakness without losing the room.
---## The Reality of Board Meetings
Your board members have seen 50+ companies. They've watched founders flinch at their own numbers, spin bad news as "learning opportunities," and present sanitized decks that hide what's actually happening.
They know when you're not being straight with them. The question isn't whether they'll ask the hard questions — it's whether you're ready for them.
The best board meetings aren't the ones where everything looks good. They're the ones where the CEO demonstrates they see reality clearly, have a plan, and can execute under pressure.
---## The Preparation Framework
### Phase 1: Numbers Cold
5. **What we need from this room** — Concrete ask. Not "support" — specific introductions, decisions, resources.
**The rule on bad news:** Never let the board be surprised. If a quarter went badly, they should know before the deck. A 5-sentence email 3 days before: "Revenue came in at $X vs $Y target. Here's what happened, here's what I'm doing, here's what I need from you."
### Phase 4: Adversarial Preparation
Do a mock board meeting. Have someone play the hardest director you have.
**The simulation:**
- Present your deck as you would
- The mock director asks every uncomfortable question
- You answer without referring to the deck
- After: note every question that made you pause or feel defensive
**The questions that made you defensive = the questions you need to prepare for.**
### Phase 5: Director-by-Director Prep
Not all board members want the same thing from a meeting.
**For each director, know:**
- Their primary concern right now (usually tied to their investment thesis)
- The metric they watch most closely
- What would make them lose confidence in you
- What they've said in the last meeting that you should address
**Common director types:**
- **The operator** — wants to know what's breaking and who owns fixing it
- **The financial investor** — focused on path to profitability or next raise
- **The strategic investor** — worried about competitive position and moat
- **The independent** — watching governance, team dynamics, and your judgment
---
## Pre-Meeting Checklist
**48 hours before:**
- [ ] All numbers verified against source systems (not last week's export)
- [ ] Deck reviewed for internal consistency
- [ ] Pre-read sent to board (deck + 1-page brief on key topics)
- [ ] One-on-ones done with any director likely to have concerns
- [ ] 3 hardest questions you expect — rehearsed out loud
**Day of meeting:**
- [ ] Agenda with time allocations distributed
- [ ] Know the ask for each agenda item (decision needed, input wanted, FYI)
- [ ] Materials to leave behind prepared
- [ ] Follow-up action template ready
---
## During the Meeting
**What the board is watching:**
- Do you own the bad news or deflect it?
- Are you defending a narrative or sharing reality?
- Do you know your numbers or do you look things up?
- When challenged, do you get defensive or engage?
- Do you know what you don't know?
**The single best thing you can do:** Name the hard thing before they do. "I want to address the revenue miss directly. Here's what happened, here's what I should have caught earlier, here's what changes."
---
## After the Meeting
Within 24 hours:
- Send action items with owners and dates
- Send any data you promised but didn't have
- Note the questions that came up you weren't ready for
- Schedule follow-up with any director who seemed unsatisfied
