Choose your rocket!
How can Advisors on Demand help?
Our goal is to substantially increase the success rate of startups going through scaling and delivering the product to the market. We aim to achieve our goal by offering access to skilled executives with experience in the most critical areas of organizational management.
It is ok if a startup fails when trying to find a product-market fit: startups are designed to test ideas and fail quickly if the idea/product does not work.
It is a big shame and loss when your idea is great, you know how to build your product, your customers love it and you fail to scale. Countless startups flamed out because they could not scale their costs sub-linearly, became victims of organizational or cultural clashes or failed to come up with a robust and scalable go-to-market and business model.
Our approach to solving the problem is best described by this quote:
"It's said that a wise person learns from his mistakes. A wiser one learns from others' mistakes. But the wisest person of all learns from others's successes."
— John C. Maxwell American author, speaker and pastor 1947
You may have a role to play
Most probably, you are reading this website because:
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You intend to help new entrepreneurs succeed in the most critical phase of their business and get rewarded by mutual success and possibly by monetary incentives.
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You are seeking to expand your network, expand your resume and improve personal branding, extend your scope and activity and leverage your knowledge and enterprise credentials to a larger extent.
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Looking to become an angel investor, start an investment syndicate or get advisor equity.
Advising startups entering a scale-up phase can address these of your needs and can be a good insurance policy against becoming obsolete. Some of our startups have strong ESG and sustainability credentials, so there is an opportunity to do make a positive impact.
What startups are we targeting?
AoD program is tailored to startups that have just entered or about to enter a scale phase, here is why. We do not recommend this program to startups in earlier stages (i.e. FFF, seed round, PoC) because working with experienced executives may, in fact, inhibit innovation. "Been there done that" attitude can bias entrepreneurs in a negative way.
There are two cases where the program can be beneficial in earlier stages:
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Startups with promising ESG credentials (specifically, E and S);
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High potential graduates of existing global programs in developing countries.
What makes this program unique?
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We offer a tailored assessment of startup needs, done by experienced executives to ensure your skills and desires are matched with startup needs to the largest possible extent.
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Our community has thousands of seasoned professionals, presenting an opportunity to network not only with entrepreneurs, but also with other coaches/advisors.
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Upon mutual agreement, your profile can be featured in a startup trivia, enhancing your resume.
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After the program end, you can continue working with the startup with or without remuneration in expanded capacity. Unlike programs or accelerators sponsored by governments or big corporations, this comes with no strings attached.
What Board on Demand is not:
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Accelerator, incubator, venue to raise capital;
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Platform for recruiting or bouncing ideas.
Coaching vs giving directions is a key differentiator for the program.
Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish, and you will him for a lifetime. That's coaching. It's the difference between giving orders and teaching people how to get things done.
— Guan Zhong in Kuan Tzu
(ca. 700 BC)
Who are you?
Advisors on Demand is founded by two tech executives and IMD EMBA Alumni, John Joyce and Danila Rudenka. The program is supported by many more individuals and is a big team effort.
John Joyce
Tech exec @AbInitio, expert in crypto and fintech, scaling and developing teams, startup founder and mentor
Danila Rudenka
Tech exec @Google, expert in tech operations, scaling customer relations and people development, CapitalG advisor
How does it work?
Similarly to HBR's "Exploration, Extrapolation, Exploitation", we run the program in three stages.
Step 1: Understand startup needs
Program leaders will start with one or multiple meetings with startup owners to understand their needs better. Note that the team's perception of startup's needs may differ from their own. We aim to aggregate startup needs across the following five pillars:
Business planning, strategy & GTM
Finance and capital management
Technology & R&D
Leadership, organizational
culture & HR
Operations &
customer relations
Step 2: Advisory board member(s) selection and framework set up
Program managers will identify advisor(s) (you) for the advisory board from a pool of available executives and professionals and will run a series of introductory meetings. We rely on a vast international network of IMD Alumni and aim to have a personal connection to every advisor. Your skillset or preferred coaching areas is categorized across the five advisory pillars.
Step 3: Counceling, wrap-up and mutual feedback
You will be counseling startups on topics identified as challenging during a tentative time frame of 3 to 6 months according to a pre-arranged schedule. The program can be extended with or without remuneration.
This is a trial program, hence a two-way feedback is critical. We decided against a one-size-fits-all approach and you help shape it moving forward.
While the program does currently does not foresee any remuneration, you are free to continue working with your startup after the program ends. This can be a position of an advisor or a board member.
OK, What's next?
If you are interested in joining the program, please answer two quick questions in the interest form below - we will get in touch. Not interested? Help us improve.