Guides

Governance, board building, pay and equity — written for directors who invest and the companies that appoint them.

• Pay and equity

  What does a non-executive director cost in the UK?

  Fees, equity and time commitment, using published UK benchmarks: £80,888 across the FTSE 150 and £41,686 across private companies.

  Harvey Knight · 7 min read

• Board building

  When should a startup appoint an independent director?

  The trigger is not a stage, it is a board composition. If your board is founders and investors with nobody independent, you are already late.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

• Board building

  What does a non-executive director do at a startup?

  Four jobs: hold the chief executive to account, bring pattern recognition, open doors, and turn the board into a decision-making body.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

• Pay and equity

  How much do non-executive directors get paid in the UK?

  Fee benchmarks by company type, why non-executive pay has fallen 11.8% behind inflation, and why equity is the half most directors never negotiate.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

• Governance

  Should a non-executive director invest in the company?

  How a director invests in their own board's company without creating a governance problem, and what has to be declared and recorded.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

• Pay and equity

  Advisory shares: vesting, cliffs and what to negotiate

  Carta puts the median pre-seed adviser grant at 0.21%, not the 1% most guides quote. What UK advisers should check before signing.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

• Pay and equity

  SEIS and EIS when you invest and join the board

  Paid directors are usually excluded unless the business angel exemption applies. The order of events matters, and so does the 30% rule.

  Harvey Knight · 6 min read

• Governance

  D&O insurance for non-executive directors: what to check

  Nine checks before you accept a board seat, including whether the policy survives insolvency and whether there is a separate non-executive limit.

  Harvey Knight · 8 min read

Written by Harvey Knight.