In this episode, Joe and Raza speak with Firas Raouf, co-founder and general partner at Companyon Ventures, a Boston-based VC firm specializing in early-stage B2B software and AI startups.

Firas shares insights from 25 years as a founder, operator, and venture investor—helping companies transition from founder-led sales to scalable, operationally disciplined organizations. The conversation focuses on how early-stage founders should think about creating their first board, the mistakes to avoid, and why great board dynamics depend heavily on execution.

Key takeaways

• Career beginnings

• • 25 years ago, Firas co-founded three startups — two were during the dot-com era and one that became VC-funded, giving him firsthand experience sitting on the receiving end of board advice and investor expectations.

  • Then, Firas was invited to join OpenView while working at Insight Venture Partners and was able to spend 10 years seeing OpenView and its portfolio companies grow.

  • Later he co-founded Companyon Ventures

• How Companyon Ventures supports the expansion stage investing

• • After early product-market fit, companies hit the "now we need to scale" moment.

  • Companyon Ventures specializes in this transition, helping founders build their first leadership team ,operational discipline, KPIs and dashboards scalable go-to-market engines a plan for capital needs

• Early-stage boards are about support

• • Firas emphasizes that early boards are not oversight bodies like public-company boards. Their purpose is to surround the founder with people who can help them think strategically, navigate challenges, and build a scalable company.

  • A board can include a seat for common shareholders, lead investors and an independent board member, who is someone with whom the
    CEO is comfortable.

  • Since lead investors can become a long-term board member, Founders
    must evaluate who they are letting in, not only the valuation. Once
    someone is on the board, they're not easy to remove.

• Boards must evolve as the company evolves

• • As companies grow, the expertise they need changes. Firas suggests cycling out board members after two years.

  • After 18–24 months, it's common for a board member's value to plateau, making board refreshes, new independent directors, or role rotations both healthy and necessary.

Quotes

• "A happy board tends to reflect great execution. An unhappy board tends to reflect poor execution."
• "I do think that you should keep things fresh, so to speak, and so any board member really that has been there more than two years, it's rare that you haven't picked their brain dry."
• "It's not just about valuation, it's also about who you're going to let into your company, into your house, because once you let them in, you can't get rid of them."
• "The board of directors for an early-stage startup is the opportunity to have a number of people around the table that can help you navigate and scale your company."

Links

Companyon Ventures- Boardroom Confidential

Guest Bio

Firas Raouf is the co-founder and general partner of Companyon Ventures, a Boston-based VC firm that invests in early-stage B2B software and AI startups. Before launching Companyon, Firas was part of the founding team at OpenView Venture Partners, where he helped pioneer the "expansion stage" investment model and partnered with dozens of software founders to scale their go-to-market operations. Today, he focuses on helping founders transition from founder-led sales to scalable growth by building leadership teams, operational discipline, and repeatable GTM engines. Firas is known for his hands-on, operator-turned-investor approach and his passion for guiding first-time founders through the challenges of building high-growth software companies.

In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Dr. Linda McGoldrick, an international board director, strategy leader, and policy expert in healthcare and life sciences.

With 30 years of global experience across the U.S., U.K., and European boards, Linda shares what defines high-performing boards, the importance of trust and diversity of thought, and how geopolitical and technological shifts are transforming governance today.

Key takeaways

• Traits of high performing boards

• • Regardless of size or geography, effective boards are well-prepared, prioritize meaningful discussion over reporting, and cultivate trust and mutual respect.

  • High performing boards all display strong relationships, open communication, and diversity of thought among board members.

  • Linda added that values, camaraderie and trust are intangible aspects that are important aspects of a successful board.

• Boards in the U.S. vs the rest of the world

• • Linda observed that even in non-English speaking countries, English serves as the universal language for board communications - a reflection of its role as the global language of business

  • Boards outside the U.S. place greater emphasis on courtesy, respect, and a thoughtful pace of discussion, reflecting multicultural membership and diverse business contexts.

  • Historically, many U.S. boards were more domestically focused, but Linda sees this shifting as companies expand internationally. Directors today are expected to understand global markets, geopolitical dynamics, and comparative business environments.

• Expansion of risk oversight

• • Today's boards must monitor not only financial and operational risks but also a host of geopolitical, regulatory, and other related challenges.

• Artificial intelligence impact on boards

• • The use of AI has implications of security, benefits, risk and investment as the technology continues to expand and have impacts on economies and society.

  • Boards have the responsibility to oversee the implications for organizational strategy and risk management.

  • Linda views AI as a valuable efficiency tool, such as bots that summarize materials but stresses that human judgment, discretion, and ethics must remain central to board decision-making.

Quotes

"I don't want to see myself around the table. I want to see a diversity of experience. We all bring certain talents which feed into the most rigorous and robust discussions around board process."

"AI is a global race… I think the human element of discretion and insight is critical to know the line of technical and bot-expertly-fed conversations versus human thoughtful conversations in dialogue.

Guest Bio

Dr. Linda McGoldrick is an international board director and healthcare and life sciences leader with more than 30 years of global executive and governance experience. She serves on the boards of SmileyLife Holding, Alvotech, where she chairs the Audit Committee, and Compass Pathways, and is the Founder and CEO of Financial Health Associates International.

Linda has held senior roles across the U.S. and Europe, including leadership positions at Marsh's Healthcare & Life Sciences practice, Kaiser Permanente's European operations, and Veos plc. She has also served as CEO of the International Diabetes Federation and the Drug Information Association.

A dual U.S.–U.K. citizen, Linda brings deep expertise in global strategy, regulatory environments, and board governance across public, private, and nonprofit organizations.