Arāya Ventures Masterclass Series - Board Mastery
We are pleased to invite you to the next session in the Arāya Ventures Masterclass Series, taking place on 23rd January 2026. This session will focus on Board Mastery: Building the Right Leadership and Governance Early, an area that directly shapes how companies scale and where many founders make costly mistakes.
Many founders struggle with when to hire leaders, who to bring into the boardroom, and how to use the talent already around them. These decisions often happen under pressure and without a clear framework. This session aims to give you a practical way to think about leadership, governance, and people structure so you can make choices that support long-term growth rather than quietly limiting it.
Session Details
Topic: Board Mastery: Building the Right Leadership and Governance Early
Speaker: Jo Dalton
Date: 23rd January 2026
Time: 1:00pm–1:45pm
Key areas covered:
How to hire your first board and leadership team
When to use advisors, fractional support, NEDs, and full C-suite hires
How to leverage your network, customers, and cap table for skills and experience
Common people and governance decisions that accelerate growth versus constrain it
About the speaker:
Jo Dalton is a Founder, Investor, and Board Advisor with nearly two decades of experience driving growth for disruptive, early-stage businesses. She is an active angel investor with a focus on sustainability, the circular economy, and health and wellbeing, and a founding member of the Alma Angels Network, which invests in female founders and underrepresented groups.
Jo founded JD&Co in 2011 as a solo founder with no external funding and has since grown it into one of Europe’s leading founder advisory and headhunting firms. JD&Co has hired over 1,000 leaders into fast-growing companies worldwide and is widely recommended by serial entrepreneurs for building high-performing boards and leadership teams. Jo regularly speaks at industry events and is a long-standing judge and supporter of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Ideasfest, and the National Startup Awards.
If you are thinking about hiring senior leaders, forming a board, or questioning whether your current setup will scale, we strongly encourage you to join and bring your questions.
We look forward to seeing you there.