49-855 Venture Governance: Boards, Executive Decision-Making, and Communications
6 units, Carnegie Mellon University
The goal of the course is to teach founders of a high tech startup venture the requirements and process to be a director and how to manage their Board of Directors and Advisory Boards. The boardroom is where the governance of the venture occurs. The course will propose frameworks for understanding the complex dynamics among directors, executives, investors and shareholders. The key elements of the work boards do includes strategic reviews, selecting, evaluating and compensating CEOs and other senior executives, company reorganizations, new director selection, managing top executive succession and dealing with various corporate crises. The role of the Boards is crucial in the value creation phase of a technology ventures trajectory. Conceptual frameworks will be taught to effectively manage this crucial aspect of a ventures governance in real time. This course will cover the following topics board participation and voting rights, Board of Directors responsibilities and liabilities, advisory board mentoring duties and shareholding vesting, managing Board of Directors, Directors and Officers Insurance and Compensation of Board Members, Board of Directors role during venture scaling, fundraising, firing hiring CEOs and company officers, board members role during the Merger and Acquisitions transaction and during IPOs, and joining other boards. Priority registration will be given to students in the Master of Science in Technology Ventures program.
Prerequisites: none listed
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