So as you know, Bobby is starting a business. What you may not know, is that as an incorporated business, it is required to have board meetings at least annually. He's the sole stockholder, so legally he doesn't need anyone on the board aside from himself, but outside input can be helpful, so his brother Brian and I are on the board as well. The first board meeting was last year, and was more about ratifying the Articles of Incorporation and all that. Tonight we had our first real board meeting.
But earlier today we started wondering about what we actually needed to do in a board meeting. Here Brian and I both have business degrees, and Bobby is working on one, but all we know about boards is that they are responsible for governance. So what does that mean?
We did some research online, and wound up ordering some books, but the whole thing became a learning experience. (Actually, drawing up the Articles of Incorporation last year was a learning experience - I started to wonder what I did learn in college.) Luckily we are all smart people, so we just started talking about some of the issues facing the company, and spent some time going over financial statements together to find where the business was weak. After an hour and a half, I think we all felt like it was a good experience not just for the business, but for ourselves.
Bobby and I later decided we'd like to have these more often. When the books we ordered arrived, we'll read through them and plan ahead a bit better, but this felt like a good start. I kind of wish we had done more practical, hands-on exercises like this in school. It seems so essential to running a business...
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