Michael Barrick

How to Onboard New Board Members ... in 60 Seconds. Onboarding a new board member works best when they understand the organization, know their responsibilities, and feel ready for their first meeting. A well-organized board orientation folder is one of the easiest ways to help with this. Here’s what I recommend including: 1. 👋 Start Here A welcome letter from the board chair, an orientation checklist, an assigned mentor, and the date of the first meeting. 2. 🏢 About the Organization Mission, vision, values, organizational history, a fact sheet, and an organizational chart. 3. 📋 Governing Documents Articles of incorporation, bylaws or operating agreement, governance policies, and committee charters. 4. 🤝 Your Role as a Director Board member responsibilities, expectations, conflict-of-interest disclosures, code of ethics, and confidentiality policies. For nonprofits, include fundraising and giving expectations. 5. 👥 Meet the Board Board member roster and bios, officers, committee assignments, term dates, the annual meeting calendar, and meeting procedures. 6. 💰 Financial Overview Current budget, recent financial statements, audit or financial review, D&O insurance summary, and indemnification provisions. Nonprofits should include the latest Form 990. 7. 🎯 Strategic Direction Strategic plan, annual priorities, organizational goals, and key risks. 8. 📚 Recent Board Activity The last two to six sets of board minutes, the most recent board meeting packet, and important decisions. 9. 🎓 Learning & Resources Recommended reading, governance training, a glossary of common terms, and key contacts. This is important because it helps new board members get up to speed quickly. If there isn’t a proper orientation, new board members might spend their first few months just trying to catch up instead of getting involved. But with the right information, they can join their first meeting feeling informed, confident, and ready to take part. EntityEngine includes a feature to make this process easier. An administrator can set up an orientation folder so everything a new director needs is ready for them when they join. And because EntityEngine has an AI assistant called Max, new directors can ask questions such as:bout the new office lease?” Max can look up the answer in the organization’s records, using only the information that director is allowed to see. There’s no need to search through years of meeting minutes. You also won’t have to track down the board secretary. You get answers, along with the supporting records. Save this checklist for your next board member orientation. Comment "Checklist" for the printable version.

🚀 Raising a Seed or Series A round for your startup? Your data room gets scrutinized harder than your pitch deck. 🚩 The SAFEs that don’t match the cap table. 🚩 The runway number nobody can trace back to actual cash. 🚩 The pilot that somehow got counted as signed revenue. Find these issues before your investors do. I built 36 FREE Claude skills to help founders get their data rooms investor-ready. Here's my recommended raise-prep routine: 1️⃣ Plan your data room. Run 00-plan-your-data-room-route and tell Claude what you're raising. It selects the right skills and runs them in order. 2️⃣ Reconcile your cap table. Account for SAFEs before and after conversion. 3️⃣ Validate your financials. Show gross burn, net burn, runway tied to a dated cash balance, and exactly what the new capital will fund. 4️⃣ Separate pipeline from revenue. Keep prospects and pilots distinct from signed revenue. 5️⃣ Prepare for investor diligence. Anticipate tough questions, prepare clear answers, and identify who owns each response. 🔎 Every skill cites its source files and flags missing information as [needs data]. ✅ 36 Claude skills ✅ 100% free ✅ No credit card required Why did we build these? At EntityEngine, we believe investor readiness shouldn't start when you're raising capital. We connect your documents, board decisions, financial records, and compliance deadlines in one intelligent platform—so your business stays organized, your AI gets smarter, and your next data room is already taking shape. EntityEngine.ai — We Connect the dots. You be brilliant. #Startups #Fundraising #VentureCapital #DueDiligence #ClaudeAI 👇 Get all 36 free Claude skills

Claude Skills for Strategic Planning 👇 Claude Skills for Strategy: 29 standalone Claude skills that take a strategy from “why we exist” to the weekly check-in and the board report. Each skill is a small file you upload once. It teaches Claude to run one strategy job the same careful way every time. 0️⃣ Start Here: Plan Your Strategy Route Tell Claude where you are: a plan that’s due, stuck or being questioned. It picks the right skills, runs them in order, and checks each step before moving on. 1️⃣ Say Why You Exist in Words People Believe • Write Your Core Purpose • Choose Values That Bite • Paint the Vivid Vision 2️⃣ Name the One Problem That Matters Before Anyone Sets Goals • Build the Facts Base • Find the Crux • Run the Bad-Strategy Check • Run the Peanut-Butter Test 3️⃣ Choose 1–3 Bets, and What You’ll Stop Doing to Pay for Them • Generate Strategic Options • Test What Would Have to Be True • Run a Pre-Mortem • Choose Your Bets and Stop List • Write the One-Page Strategy 4️⃣ Turn the Bets Into Goals You Can Measure • Set Three-Year Goals • Turn Bets Into OKRs • Find the Lead Measures • Build the Strategy Scorecard 5️⃣ Put the Money, People and Work Behind Each Bet • Turn Bets Into Initiatives • Move the Money • Run a Catchball Round • Map Cross-Team Commitments 6️⃣ Keep the Strategy Alive After the Offsite • Assign Owners and Deadlines • Run the Weekly Check-In • Run the Monthly Strategy Review • Explain the Strategy to Everyone • Run the Quarterly Reset 7️⃣ Give the Board Its Real Job: Test, Approve and Watch • Prepare the Board Strategy Session • Build the Board Strategy Report • Ask the Board Oversight Questions The same quality bar every time: Your facts first, each with a source. Named methods, not filler. No invented numbers: anything missing is marked “needs data.” Every skill checks its own work before you see it. Use them in order for a full strategy, or pick one tonight for the plan with eleven priorities. FREE access 👇

Claude Skills for Strategy: 29 standalone Claude skills that take a strategy from “why we exist” to the weekly check-in and the board report. Each skill is a small file you upload once. It teaches Claude to run one strategy job the same careful way every time. Most strategies don’t fail at the offsite. They fail the week after. 👇 0️⃣ Start Here: Plan Your Strategy Route Tell Claude where you are: a plan that’s due, stuck, or being questioned. It picks the right skills, runs them in order, and checks each step before moving on. 1️⃣ Say Why You Exist in Words People Believe • Write Your Core Purpose • Choose Values That Bite • Paint the Vivid Vision 2️⃣ Name the One Problem That Matters Before Anyone Sets Goals • Build the Facts Base • Find the Crux • Run the Bad-Strategy Check • Run the Peanut-Butter Test 3️⃣ Choose 1–3 Bets, and What You’ll Stop Doing to Pay for Them • Generate Strategic Options • Test What Would Have to Be True • Run a Pre-Mortem • Choose Your Bets and Stop List • Write the One-Page Strategy 4️⃣ Turn the Bets Into Goals You Can Measure • Set Three-Year Goals • Turn Bets Into OKRs • Find the Lead Measures • Build the Strategy Scorecard 5️⃣ Put the Money, People and Work Behind Each Bet • Turn Bets Into Initiatives • Move the Money • Run a Catchball Round • Map Cross-Team Commitments 6️⃣ Keep the Strategy Alive After the Offsite • Assign Owners and Deadlines • Run the Weekly Check-In • Run the Monthly Strategy Review • Explain the Strategy to Everyone • Run the Quarterly Reset 7️⃣ Give the Board Its Real Job: Test, Approve and Watch • Prepare the Board Strategy Session • Build the Board Strategy Report • Ask the Board Oversight Questions The same quality bar every time: Your facts first, each with a source. Named methods, not filler. No invented numbers: anything missing is marked “needs data.” Every skill checks its own work before you see it. Use them for a full strategy, or pick one tonight for the plan with eleven priorities. FREE access 👇

Claude Skills for Boardroom Prep 👇 23 standalone Claude skills that cover the full path of a board decision. Each skill is a small file you upload once. It teaches Claude to run one high-value board job the same careful way every time, from framing the decision to writing the final minutes. 0️⃣ Start Here: Plan Your Board Prep Route Tell Claude what’s coming up. It picks the right skills, runs them in order, and checks each step before moving on. 1️⃣ Frame the Decision Before Anyone Writes a Page • Define the #Board Decision • Map Your Board Stakeholders • Write Your Working Answer First • Write the SCQA Opening 2️⃣ Find What’s Really Going On, With Honest Numbers • Build an Issue and Driver Tree • Size the Gap and Value at Stake • Turn Findings Into Board Insights 3️⃣ Turn Real Options Into a Motion the Board Can Vote On • Compare Options and Trade-offs • Draft the Recommendation and Motion 4️⃣ Show the Board Exactly How It Gets Done • Build the Implementation Plan • Build the Risk Register 5️⃣ Build a Board Packet #Directors Actually Read • Map the Board Paper Storyline • Build the Board Packet • Rehearse the Hard Board Questions 6️⃣ Read, Question, Vote and Minute Like the Best Director in the Room • Read a Board Packet in 20 Minutes • Prepare Director Oversight Questions • Run a Red-Flag Check • Read the Financials in Plain Words • Run the Pre-Vote Check • Draft Minutes and Action Items • Apply the Nonprofit Board Lens • Build a Decision-Focused Agenda The same quality bar every time: Your facts first. Named methods, not filler. No invented numbers: anything missing is marked. Every skill checks its own work before you see it. Use them in order for a full board paper, or pick one for the agenda item you’re working on tonight. Comment "BOARD" for FREE access👇