Founder AMA: The Board(Room) Process

​Board seats are one of the most powerful (and least understood) levers for founders ready to expand their influence beyond their own company. This session is a deep dive into what it actually takes: how boards get built, how seats get filled, and how to find the right seat for you.

​Kierstin Rielly leads Women on Boards Project (W Project), a nonprofit built on a simple, provable premise: the shortage of women on private, consumer-facing boards isn't a supply problem — it's a demand problem. Women drive the overwhelming majority of consumer purchasing decisions, yet hold a fraction of the board seats at the companies they're buying from. Since 2020, W Project has placed 81 women on boards at brands like King Arthur Baking, Simple Mills, Daily Harvest, Stone Brewing, Welch's, Mack Weldon, Sambazon, Urban Remedy, and Backcountry — with investors including VMG Partners, Gauge Capital, Siddhi Capital, and NextWorld Evergreen backing the work.

​Before W Project, Kierstin spent years building community at the intersection of consumer brands and impact as Executive Director of Naturally San Diego.

​Come with your questions — whether you're eyeing your first board seat, thinking about who belongs on yours, or just want to understand how this world actually works.