How to Write an Advisor Brief That Attracts the Right People

An advisor brief is a short document that tells potential advisors what your company does, the specific problem you want help with, what success looks like in the first months, how much time the role needs and how you will pay for it. To write a good one, name one concrete outcome, describe the exact experience that would make someone credible, state the time commitment and compensation model upfront, and keep it under a page. Specific briefs consistently outperform vague ones: in Boardio's Advisor Search Report 2026, vague briefs attracted roughly half as many applications as specific ones.

This guide walks through what to include, what to leave out, and a template you can copy. It works whether you call it an advisor brief, an advisor job description or a board advisor role description: the principles are the same.

Why the brief matters more than where you post it

Most founders put their effort into the channel: which network to ask, which platform to use, which LinkedIn group to post in. The brief gets written in ten minutes the night before. That is backwards. Experienced advisors are selective, and the brief is the only thing they see before deciding whether your company is worth an hour of their time.

Boardio's data shows how much this matters. The report covers 806 advisor briefs and 9,225 applications on the platform between 2015 and 2026. By 2025 the average search received 16.3 applications and the median time to the first application was one day. Demand from advisors is no longer the bottleneck. What separates a search that produces a shortlist of five strong candidates from one that produces twenty generic replies is, overwhelmingly, the brief.

A specific brief does three things at once. It attracts more applicants, because people can see quickly whether they fit. It attracts better applicants, because the right people recognise their own experience in your description. And it makes your decision faster, because you have a clear standard to compare candidates against.

What to include in an advisor brief

A strong brief answers seven questions. If an advisor finishes reading and still has to guess at any of them, they will either skip it or send a cautious, generic application.

1. Who you are, in two sentences

Company name, what you sell, who buys it, and your stage. "We are a Series A B2B SaaS company selling maintenance analytics to mid-sized manufacturers in the Nordics, with 40 customers and €3m ARR" tells an advisor more than a paragraph of mission statement.

2. The one problem you need solved

This is where most briefs fail. "We are looking for a strategic advisor to support our growth" could describe almost any company. Instead, name the outcome: "We want to sign our first three manufacturing customers in Germany within 12 months" or "We need to prepare for a Series A raise in Q3 and build relationships with five relevant European VCs." One clear problem beats a list of six vague ones.

3. The experience that would make someone credible

Describe the person by what they have done, not by adjectives. "Has sold industrial software to German Mittelstand manufacturers and can open doors to plant managers or operations directors" is specific. "Senior, well-connected, entrepreneurial" is not. If a particular network, market or sector is essential, say so. If it is a nice-to-have, label it that way so you do not filter out strong people unnecessarily.

4. What the first 90 days look like

Advisors want to know what they are signing up for. Spell out two or three concrete deliverables for the first quarter, such as reviewing your German pricing, making ten warm introductions or sitting in on investor pitches. This also sets you up for a structured 90-day advisor trial, which is the simplest way to test fit before committing long term.

5. Time commitment and format

State the expected hours or days per month, the meeting rhythm and whether the work is remote or in person. Two to four days a month is typical for an active advisor; a board role usually means fixed meetings plus preparation time. Being clear here saves both sides from a mismatch that only surfaces after the first month.

6. How you will pay

Leaving compensation out is one of the fastest ways to lose experienced candidates. You do not need exact figures, but you should name the model. The three common ones are:

• Equity: typically options vesting over one to two years, most common in early-stage startups with limited cash.
• Cash retainer: a fixed monthly fee, common for later-stage companies and for advisors with a defined time commitment.
• Revenue share: a percentage of revenue the advisor helps generate, well suited to sales, market entry and business development roles where results are measurable.

Many companies combine two of these, for example a small retainer plus equity, or a revenue share with a modest base. If you are unsure what is fair, our advisory board compensation benchmarks cover typical ranges by stage and role.

7. What happens next

Tell applicants how and when you will respond, and what the selection process looks like: a first call, a meeting with the founders, a short paid trial. A clear process signals that you are serious, which matters to advisors who receive many approaches.

Common mistakes that make a brief vague

Most weak briefs fall into a handful of predictable patterns:

• Listing every possible need. Fundraising, go-to-market, hiring, product and governance in one brief means no single advisor fits. Pick the most urgent problem and, if needed, run a second search later.
• Describing the company, not the gap. Three paragraphs on your vision and one line on what you need is the wrong ratio.
• Asking for a title instead of an outcome. "Looking for a CMO-level advisor" says less than "need help building an outbound engine for the UK market."
• Hiding the pay model. "Compensation to be discussed" reads as "we have not thought about it" to many senior candidates.
• Writing for investors. Your brief is not a pitch deck. Advisors care about the problem, the fit and the terms, not your total addressable market.
• Leaving out the market. In 2025, 85% of searches on Boardio targeted a foreign market. If yours does too, name the country or region explicitly, because local experience is usually the deciding factor.

A simple advisor brief template

Copy this structure and fill in each line. If you cannot complete a line in one or two sentences, that is usually a sign the role needs more thought before you publish it.

• Company: [Name], [what you sell] to [who], [stage, team size, key traction figure].
• The goal: We want to [specific outcome] by [timeframe].
• Why we need an advisor: We lack [specific experience, network or market knowledge] in the team today.
• Ideal background: Has [done X] in [sector or market]. Must have: [one or two essentials]. Nice to have: [one or two extras].
• First 90 days: [Deliverable 1], [deliverable 2], [deliverable 3].
• Time commitment: About [X] days per month, [remote / in person in city], [meeting rhythm].
• Compensation: [Equity / cash retainer / revenue share / combination], [range if known].
• Process: First calls in [week], decision by [date], starting with a [length] trial.

Advisor brief vs board member brief

The same structure works for non-executive and independent director searches, with a few differences. A board brief should describe the board's current composition and the gap a new member fills, the governance responsibilities and liability involved, the number of meetings per year, and the appointment process, including any shareholder approval. Board roles carry formal duties that advisory roles do not, so candidates will want to understand the company's financial position and existing investors before applying.

Board searches are also where a strong brief pays off most visibly. On Boardio, board, chair and independent director searches attract 23.5 applications on average, 74% above the platform average. The record of 81 applications in a single search went to an independent director brief for a B2B SaaS scale-up in 2025. If you are recruiting for a board seat, our guide to how companies run a board member search covers the full process from brief to appointment.

Where to share your brief

Once the brief is ready, you have three broad options. You can share it through your own network and investors, which works well if you already know people in the target market. You can post it on a platform where advisors browse open roles. Or you can have someone run the search for you, from refining the brief to shortlisting candidates.

Boardio covers the last two. Companies can post a brief to a network of 12k+ advisors across 120 countries, or use Turnkey, where the Boardio team helps sharpen the brief, promotes it and presents a shortlist. Turnkey works on a success fee from €1,900, paid only if you start working with an advisor Boardio found, and comes with a 100% Growth Guarantee: if the match is not working out, you get a new search at no extra cost. For a wider view of channels and costs, see how much it costs to find a startup advisor and our overview of startup advisors.

Before you publish: a quick checklist

• Could a stranger explain what your company does after reading the first two sentences?
• Is there one clear outcome with a timeframe?
• Does the ideal background describe experience, not personality?
• Have you named the time commitment and the compensation model?
• Have you named the target market, if there is one?
• Is the whole brief shorter than one page?

If you can tick all six, your brief is already more specific than most. Ready to find your advisor? Start your search on Boardio and we will help you turn your brief into a shortlist.

About Boardio: Boardio is an advisor and board member matchmaking platform connecting startups and scaleups with experienced advisors across 120 countries.

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