You believe in your business. You know where you want to take it.
But you're time-poor. Resource-stretched. And the honest truth is that you can't know everything you need to know to get there.
That's not a weakness. That's just the reality of running a growing business that takes on new challenges.
And it's exactly why the world's most ambitious founders and executives use advisory boards.
Not as a box-ticking exercise to agree with your ideas. But as a genuine growth engine — one that gives you access to experience, networks, and perspective from people who have done it themselves.
This is how you can approach establishing an advisory board properly.
What is an advisory board? (And what it isn't)
Before you build one, let's be clear about what you're actually creating.
An advisory board is a group of experienced, credible individuals who provide strategic guidance, specialist expertise, and external challenge to help you grow your business. They are not employees. They are not investors. They are not board directors. They are certainly not your friends telling you what you want to hear.
Done right, an advisory board is a very cost-effective investment to support growth.
What an advisory board is NOT
This is where most people go wrong. They either misunderstand what an advisory board is.
An advisory board is not a Board of Directors.
This is the most important distinction to understand. Here's how they differ:
| Advisory Board | Board of Directors | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal standing | No formal legal authority | Legal fiduciary responsibility |
| Decision-making | Advises — cannot direct or vote | Governs — can direct and vote |
| Liability | No personal liability | Directors can be held personally liable |
| Formality | Informal and flexible | Formally constituted with governance obligations |
| Cost | Typically low — equity, expenses or nominal fee | Full directors' fees and D&O insurance |
| When you need it | From early growth stage onwards | Usually required for investment rounds, regulated industries, or at scale |
An advisory board is also not:
- A rubber stamp. If everyone on your advisory board agrees with everything you say, you've built the wrong board. You need people who will challenge your thinking constructively — not cheerleaders.
- A mentoring group. Mentors support your personal development. Advisors are there to support the business's strategic development. The distinction matters.
- A free consultancy. Advisors give strategic guidance. They don't execute. Expecting them to do the work of a consultant without the engagement is a fast way to burn the relationship.
- A social club. It's not about collecting impressive names. It's about access to the right thinking at the right time.
- A permanent fixture. Advisory boards should evolve. The advisors who help you grow revenue from $1M to $5M may not be the right people to help you go from $5M to $20M. Review regularly.
- A substitute for decision-making. You're still the one making the calls. The advisory board informs, challenges and opens doors. The final decision is always yours.
Why founders and CxOs are turning to advisory boards right now
Growth opportunities are hard to unlock. Markets shift faster. Technology disrupts overnight. Talent is harder to find and keep.
The businesses that navigate this best aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest teams. They're the ones with the smartest thinking around them.
An advisory board gives you exactly that — at a fraction of the cost of building capability internally.
At Jungle Gym, we've set up, participated in and run advisory boards for businesses at different stages and across different sectors — including businesses like Not Another, On Duty Digital and ZANZ. Each one was different. Each one was shaped entirely around what that business needed to grow at that time. That's the point.
There is no one-size-fits-all advisory board. But there is a right way to build one.
How to build an advisory board that actually drives growth
1. Get clear on what you're solving for
Don't start by thinking about who to recruit. Start by thinking about what gaps exist in your current leadership team's knowledge, networks and experience.
Ask yourself:
- Where are the biggest blind spots in our strategic thinking?
- Which markets, channels or functions do we lack deep expertise in?
- What doors do we struggle to open?
- Where do we keep getting stuck?
The answers to those questions define the profile of advisor you need.
2. Recruit for difference, not comfort
The most common mistake is recruiting people who look, think and come from the same backgrounds as you. It feels comfortable. It's ineffective.
You want cognitive diversity. Sector diversity. Experience diversity. People who have succeeded in places you haven't been yet — and failed in places you're about to go.
And you want people who will tell you the truth. Even when it's uncomfortable. That said, they all need to work productively together.
3. Be deliberate about size
Most effective advisory boards have between three and six members. Fewer than three and you lose the richness of competing perspectives. More than six and meetings become unwieldy and individual commitment dilutes.
Start small. Add as the business evolves.
4. Set expectations from day one
Vague expectations create vague outcomes. Before anyone joins your advisory board, be explicit about:
- Time commitment — how many meetings per year, and what preparation is expected
- Scope — what areas they're being asked to advise on
- Access — whether they'll have direct access to data, leadership team members, or customers
- Compensation — equity, cash, expenses, or a combination. Be transparent. Have the conversation.
- Term — a defined period (typically 12–24 months, renewable) with a review at the end
5. Make the meetings count
This is where most advisory boards die. The meetings are badly prepared, run too informally, and the business gets generic advice that could have come from a Google search or AI.
Don't let that happen. (See the checklist below.)
6. Use them between meetings too
Your advisors are most valuable when you need a rapid sounding board — not just in a structured session. Build relationships that allow you to pick up the phone when you're about to make a big call. The best advisory relationships are ongoing conversations, not quarterly events.
The Jungle Gym difference: access to the right experts at the right time
One of the biggest challenges in building an advisory board is knowing who to go to. Networks take years to build. The best advisors are rarely advertising their availability.
At Jungle Gym, we bring something unique to the table: a very wide network of specialists that goes well beyond the expertise of our own team. Across marketing, commercial strategy, technology, operations, finance, international growth and sector-specific disciplines — we can connect ambitious businesses with the right thinkers at the right stage.
We've done it for Not Another, where we helped structure an advisory board that combined creative industry expertise with commercial rigour — giving the leadership team a clear strategic sounding board to scale.
We did it for On Duty Digital, identifying advisors who could open doors into enterprise procurement and bring credibility to a rapidly growing challenger brand.
And we've done it for ZANZ, helping build an advisory structure that matched this early stage business's ambitious growth targets with experienced voices who had genuinely been there before.
Your advisory board readiness checklist
Before you recruit
- Mapped the strategic gaps in your current leadership team
- Defined the three to five most important challenges or growth objectives for the next 18 months
- Identified the types of expertise, network and perspective that would most accelerate progress
- Decided on the size of the board (start with three to four advisors)
- Agreed a compensation framework — equity, cash, or both
- Prepared a one-page brief explaining what the business does, where it's going, and what you're looking for in advisors
- Developed a contract for your advisory board members which sets out the commercial terms including things like a non-disclosure agreement
Before each meeting
- Sent a clear agenda at least one week in advance
- Provided relevant business updates (financial performance, key metrics, current challenges)
- Identified the two or three decisions or challenges you want the most input on
- Prepared specific questions — not open-ended topics but focused prompts
- Briefed any members of your team who will present to the board
During each meeting
- Start with a brief business update (no more than ten minutes)
- Focus the majority of the time on the two or three pre-identified focus areas
- Encourage challenge — not just affirmation
- Capture actions, commitments and key insights in real time
- End with a clear summary of what was decided and who is doing what
After each meeting
- Send a follow-up summary within 48 hours
- Act on what was agreed — nothing erodes an advisory board faster than being ignored
- Follow up individually with advisors where specific introductions or connections were promised
- Schedule the next meeting before everyone disperses
Annual review
- Review the composition of the board — do you still have the right people for the next phase?
- Seek feedback from advisors on how the board is functioning
- Renew terms explicitly — don't let engagements drift
- Celebrate what the board has contributed to the business's growth
Frequently asked questions about advisory boards
How much should I pay advisory board members?
There's no fixed rule, but equity between 0.1% and 0.5% per year per person is common for early-stage businesses, depending on valuation and expertise. More established businesses often pay a nominal retainer ($2,000–$20,000 per year) plus expenses. The right answer depends on the stage of your business and the value the advisor brings. Be transparent, be fair, and never expect something for nothing.
Can my advisors introduce me to investors or new customers?
Absolutely — and this is one of the most powerful reasons to build an advisory board carefully. The right advisors open doors that would take you years to open yourself. But don't make this the only criteria. The businesses that get the most from advisory boards are the ones who choose advisors for their thinking first and their network second.
How often should an advisory board meet?
Quarterly is the most common cadence for a formal meeting. But the best advisory relationships involve more regular, informal contact between meetings. Aim for four structured sessions a year, with the ability to reach out ad hoc when needed.
What if an advisor isn't adding value?
End the engagement. Professionally, respectfully — but don't let inertia keep the wrong people in the room. An advisory board that isn't functioning is worse than no advisory board at all, because it creates a false sense of having the support in place.
Do I need advisors in my specific sector?
Not necessarily. In fact, some of the most valuable advisory perspectives come from outside your sector — people who have solved similar problems in different contexts. You want a mix of sector-specific expertise and cross-industry thinking.
Ready to build your advisory board?
You don't have to figure this out alone.
At Jungle Gym, we work with ambitious founders and executives who know they want to grow — and need the right support to get there. Whether that's structuring an advisory board from scratch, identifying the right advisors through our extensive network, or helping you run sessions that actually move the needle, we've done it before and we'll do it again.
It's never game over. It's game on.