Non-executive directors and start-ups: the benefits

by Catherine Woods - Wednesday, 30th January 2008 -

What does an entrepreneur do in between ventures? One option is to become a non-executive director of an up-and-coming business, which is what Marshall King did.

King built a dotcom called Improveline in the late 1990s and raised £10m before the market crashed in 2001. The business recovered sufficiently, however, to have hit revenue of £40m by the time King sold it in 2005.

These days, he’s a non-executive director for Magpie, a Brighton-based social media analytics company. King says it’s been a good experience. “You get to see a lot more of what’s going on in the market. You see deals coming up and you get to talk to people about different ideas and businesses. There’s a lot more variety.

“I think at some point there’s another business I’ll get involved in full-time, but I’m taking my time and haven’t found it yet.”

King believes the non-exec is an important resource for a start-up. “I think it’s very valuable for the first-time entrepreneur to have people around as sounding boards; people who have made the mistakes and got away with it. The challenge is then to figure out which advice is good advice and which fits his particular situation.”

Picture source

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