The Strategic Approach to Building a Board | Andreessen Horowitz

This model for determining board composition makes a lot of sense to me. Some of these roles are pretty common in boards that I have interacted with.

We have consistently found that the best founders and startups build their boards forward from product-market fit—instead of backward from IPO—and approach it like building a presidential cabinet. The composition of a board will evolve alongside a company, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a board. There isn’t a set number of board seats or a particular balance of personas that solves every business problem. That said, we have found these questions work well as jumping-off points for building a strategic board: what are the major business challenges facing my company, and do I have the right people on my management team to help me tackle those challenges? If not, which independent directors can I bring on to augment that team?

The role that I see lacking the most is the Functional Expert. There are not a lot of CTOs on boards, and as nearly all companies become technology companies that lack of presence at the board level results in a disconnect between the vision and direction of the business and those responsible to oversee it.

I think you could go broader and assert that another category should be considered. There is a consideration for a "Public Readiness Expert" in this framework, which clearly suggests this is pre-IPO, but would easily pivot to an Audit role after the fact. Technology could be considered very similar to that, as opposed to a pure Functional area.