January 13, 2025

Sarah Vizard

Deputy editor-in-chief

How to build an effective board

Entrepreneurs are used to doing things by themselves. When you start a business, it is likely to be just you, a co-founder or two, and big ambitions. As you scale, more people will join. You’ll hire marketers and designers, tech and HR people and someone to sort out the finances. But at some point, you’ll also reach the point where your business needs to bring in some independent oversight.

However, knowing when and how to do that – especially for those who haven’t brought in outside help before – can be difficult. There’s also no legal requirement to do this, beyond naming a director when you set up a business at Companies House, so the timing is all in your hands.

“There are no hard and fast rules,” says Roger Barker, director of policy and corporate governance at the Institute of Directors (IoD). “As you get bigger, there is no regulation that says this size of company must have this number of people or these types of people on the board.”

Nevertheless, most companies will add independent directors to their board over time. This might be because they need finance – many investors will insist on independent oversight – or because they’re looking for improved governance or an outside perspective.

In the Masterclass we cover:

💼 Why businesses need non-executive directors.

📋 How to structure a board.

🌉 What a successful and productive board looks like.

⛔ What to avoid when formalising an independent board.

Read the full Masterclass

My Business Leader Secret

Ordnance Survey CEO: Ask three questions before proposing a new business idea

In this week’s My Business Leader Secret we talk to Nick Bolton, who became CEO of Ordnance Survey in 2023. The organisation was founded in 1791 and specialises in making detailed maps of Great Britain. It is owned by the government but operates like a business. 

Bolton joined Ordnance Survey after a career in the private sector. In his previous role as CEO of Oxford Metrics, he led the company that developed the avatar technology used in the Abba Voyage show.

There are three key questions you have to ask when proposing a new business idea, says Bolton. These boil down to “insight, customer appeal and unit economics”.

First, what is the new insight you are offering? “What is it that you see that others don’t see, which when they do see it, they won’t be able to unsee it?”

Then you need to figure out how it will appeal to the customer group that you have identified. “If you haven’t got clarity on that,” says Bolton, “you shouldn’t start spending money on anything because you don’t know where that pound is best applied.”

Finally, look at the unit economics and calculate if there are enough customers to “address in a readily repeatable way”, make a profit and grow.

Watch the full video

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How to harness top talent without compromising company culture is key to scaling your business

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