Interview, Fireside Chat, Other
a16z Podcast | Boards, from Both Sides of the Table
- Jennifer Tejada's board governance perspective is shaped by early, unexpected experiences, including chairing a family endowment at age 25 and a first corporate board role in 2001/2002 that arose opportunistically during a private equity acquisition of a diaper company in Australia.
- Her first corporate board seat was secured not through a formal application but by providing unsolicited, deep-dive subject matter expertise on Pampers/Procter & Gamble dynamics during due diligence, where she "dug in" as if purchasing the company herself.
- A critical lesson from her first board year was to suppress the urge to immediately add value in the room; instead, she learned to listen, do homework, and ask "first principles" questions that helped management re-evaluate their core customer strategy rather than focusing on operational trade-offs.
- Tejada emphasizes that effective board selection requires mutual diligence: prospective members should verify their fit beyond just the company's reputation, while boards must assess if a candidate can transition from an operator mindset to a distinct board perspective.
- She notes that in board interviews, candidates may be treated as "information sponges" by boards seeking specific industry knowledge (e.g., Pampers), making the candidate's ability to demonstrate "operator empathy" and style equally important to their technical expertise.
- Tejada serves on the board of directors for multiple companies while simultaneously acting as a CEO (specifically at PagerDuty), a dual role she maintains intentionally to flex different leadership muscles and gain empathy for the CEO's position.
- As a CEO, she anticipates potential friction points with her board based on her board member experience, specifically regarding the risks of disorganized processes, such as sending oversized information packets (e.g., "150 pages") instead of concise executive summaries.
- Her current board composition includes two founders, two investors (including Andreessen Horowitz's John O'Farrell), and herself, a structure she notes creates inherent conflicts of interest, particularly during fundraising rounds.
- Tejada leverages specific board members for their unique skills rather than general governance; for example, she proactively consults John O'Farrell on complex business development scenarios to ensure alignment before making high-stakes decisions like terminating a major customer.
- Her management philosophy regarding the board prioritizes a "no surprises" policy, defined by transparency about operational realities ("how the sausage is made") while carefully curating the depth of detail to prevent unnecessary friction.
- She identifies a gap in many current boards, including her own, by noting a lack of a sitting or retired CEO on the board who can deeply understand the trade-offs inherent in executive compensation and employee stock plans.
- Tejada advises prospective board members to build credibility by being "insanely helpful" to a set of respected people, demonstrating competence through action before seeking an invitation to join a board.
- To mitigate the risk of management teams treating board meetings as "dog and pony shows," she enforces a strict rule that all direct communication between her team and the board must copy the CEO, ensuring full transparency.
- She distinguishes between the strategic role of the board and the execution role of management, asserting that the most critical strategic work happens in the management room, not the boardroom.
- Tejada structures board meetings to include specific "ops review" sessions where the management team is present, followed by executive sessions where the board and CEO may discuss sensitive topics in the absence of other attendees to maintain clarity and focus.
- She characterizes the rigorous nature of private equity-backed boards as a "fitness trainer" relationship, where intense scrutiny and discipline ultimately make the operating team stronger, even if the process is temporarily difficult.
- When engaging management with the board, she insists on a "parachute" approach, ensuring team members understand their specific purpose and constraints before entering a board meeting to prevent miscommunication or backfire.