Interviews
How do you raise money for a startup and does your startup need a board?
How to raise money for a startup is a key question for many entrepreneurs.
In this interview with Roy Sheppard, Julie Barber, CEO, non-executive director, chairperson, mentor, speaker and No. 1 best selling author, discusses raising money for startups, the sectors that VCs are investing in and why startups need good boards.
Julie Barber wears many professional hats. She is the CEO of Spark!, a firm that helps startups and scale-ups raise funding; she is a non-executive director at a global healthcare firm and the chair of a social enterprise. She is also a mentor and a best-selling author.
Roy Sheppard and Julie Barber discuss:
- What investors look for in early-stage startups
- The sectors that are currently attracting a lot of investor interest
- Why fast-growth companies need to have governance structures in place
- The risks for startups if they don’t have good governance in place
- How startups should empower their boards to help them scale
- What level of corporate governance is suitable for growing companies
- The roles that younger people can play on boards
- What to do if you have the ambition to sit on a board
- How she landed her first position on a board of directors
- What she learned most from her first position as a non-executive director
- The advice she would give to aspiring board members
