6 Things to Know When Building Your Customer Advisory Board

As CEO, you need to build personal and genuine relationships

Two weeks ago, we published a post: Understanding Customers is a CEO’s Most Important Job.

The post really resonated with readers, and we received a lot of positive feedback. Others agreed that no matter what stage you’re at, staying close to customers is one of the highest-leverage things you can do as a CEO.

I’m a big believer that founders/CEOs should aim to speak with or meet an average of at least one customer every working day. That rhythm keeps you grounded in reality. It sharpens your understanding of where the product needs to go, where your go-to-market engine is breaking, and how your customers are evolving.

One of the readers who reached out said they were trying to stay engaged and to that end were starting to build a Customer Advisory Board. They asked if we had any learnings to share on this topic.

So, we wanted to immediately respond and share some thoughts on building your Customer Advisory Board in the hopes that this set of tactics is helpful to others.

I’ve built multiple CABs over the years, and — like most things in startups — I’ve learned the hard way what works and what doesn’t. Here are six things to know when building your customer advisory board.

#1 - Again, your personal involvement matters!

One of the best tactics that I have found to stay in front of clients is to personally build and lead a strong Customer Advisory Board (CAB) yourself. The more that you stay personally involved as CEO in building and running your CAB, and actually listen and take action on what customers say, the more successful your efforts will be.

The benefits of your direct engagement are many fold, but most importantly:

1. When customers believe they have influence over you and where you will take the company, you will create loyal customers for life. These people will evangelize and bring your product to every company they ever work at.

2. Speaking directly and building a genuine relationship with a company’s CEO is truly unique. So your direct engagement in the CAB will create a unique level of transparency in the group. Because customers know that you are the ultimate decision maker, they will speak openly about things they otherwise would not have.

Do not shy away from your role in leading your customer advisory board – this is one of your best opportunities to impact and understand customers as CEO.

But to be clear, as soon as you have some scale in your business you should not be the one who handles the basics of logistics and communication. When I say you need to be leading your CAB, it means that:

1. You need to be present and actively engaged in the discussions (not on your phone or stepping out of the meeting to take calls).

2. You should be delivering at least some of the content during every meeting.

3. You should be the one to personally reach out and invite a customer to join.

There will be a lot of work to keep the CAB running, to organize each meeting, and run them well. You should delegate this responsibility to your customer success and/or product leader (or trusted team member). When BetterCloud was smaller and all CSMs directly reported to me, I had our best individual CS contributor co-lead our CAB with me.

#2 - Get Clear on the Persona

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made—and I’ve seen others make—is not being clear on who should be on the CAB.

Is it your user? Your buyer? The budget owner? At BetterCloud, our primary user was the IT admin, but we sold to the Director of IT, and the CIO controlled the budget. Over the years, we experimented with CABs for each of these personas, and the differences were night and day.

• CIOs: They didn’t care about the product. They wanted to talk to other CIOs about market trends and high-level strategy.

• Users (IT admins): They wanted to get into the weeds—down to specific buttons on a page and individual feature wireframes.

• Directors of IT: They were the sweet spot. They cared about the product but at the right level of detail. They also valued networking and market insights.

Each of these personas were valuable in their own way, and as a business we interacted with them all on a regular basis. But when it came to the formal structure of the CAB, it was important to find the right balance of person (for us, directors).

So before setting up your CAB, be crystal clear on the persona that you need in the room to get the insights and engagement that will drive your business forward. And then make sure that you keep your CAB focused on engaging with that person.

When I was recently sharing this advice with a CEO, they said that they understood this dynamic but their CAB was composed of their champions at their top customers, regardless of what their level/role was. The challenge with this is that because these people are not at the same level, they do not have the same role, and their views are different. This leads to an awkward dynamic: oftentimes senior people don't want to be sitting next to a more junior person; or more junior people don’t feel comfortable sharing openly with more senior people (who might know their boss) present.

#3 - Forget About Compensation: Make Them Feel Special

The biggest mistake that I see most Founder/CEOs make is thinking that they need to pay CAB members. This always gets messy and creates unforeseen complications. For example, if you start giving equity to customers there can be a conflict of interest if/when their employer has a policy or is against them being compensated by vendors. It also just simply looks bad and creates the wrong behavior.

You don’t need to pay CAB members. I have found that 90% of people that you ask to join your Customer Advisory Board will do it because they care about the company and product, and want to feel special by having “backstage access.”

Put simply, if customers feel valued by the company and its CEO, they’ll participate. The best ways for you to execute this is by:

• Personally inviting customers to join

• Giving people an official title (e.g., “Member of the [Your Company] Advisory Board”)—it looks great on LinkedIn.

• Offering VIP treatment for CAB members at events or conferences.

• Providing exclusive, behind-the-scenes looks at your roadmap and vision.

• Highlighting them publicly as industry thought leaders.

Most customers don’t get direct access to a company’s founder or product team. If they feel their input matters, they’ll stay engaged.

#4 - Set a Sustainable Cadence

One of my biggest lessons: whatever meeting schedule you commit to, make sure it’s sustainable.

• Too frequent? I once tried monthly meetings, and after six months, I couldn’t keep up. It lost momentum and fizzled out.

• Too infrequent? Meeting only once a year isn’t enough to keep members engaged or get meaningful feedback.

The sweet spot? Quarterly meetings.

I’d also recommend one in-person meeting per year, ideally scheduled around a major industry conference or your own company event, so people are already traveling.

#5 - Have a Structured Format

A good CAB meeting isn’t just a roundtable discussion — it’s a curated experience. I’ve found that a 90 minute format works best, with a clear agenda:

1. Company/Product Updates: Share how things have evolved since the last meeting.

2. Exclusive Sneak Peeks: Give members early access to upcoming features or strategy shifts — something that makes them feel “in the know.”

   • Note: it is okay and often even better for these to be raw, meaning just show them Figma designs and click through them in front of the group. Not everything needs to be buttoned up, that is part of the benefit of having this group.

3. 2-3 Deep Dive Topics:

   • Discuss big industry trends or data you have on something related to their jobs.

   • Present new product concepts and get raw feedback.

   • Go around the room and hear each member’s top priority for the upcoming year.

4. Interactive Session: Whether it’s a live product walkthrough with a PM or a collaborative brainstorming session, CAB members should leave feeling heard and engaged.

Again, while you should play an active role in the CAB — and lead at least 1-2 of the above agenda points — these all don’t have to be delivered by you. You can and should bring in people from your product team, your customer success team, your data team, etc – just make sure that everything is useful.

#6 - Build Genuine Relationships

A great CAB isn’t just about meetings, it’s about relationships. If you want members to stay engaged, you need to build personal connections. Keep the group small enough that you can give them individual attention inside and outside the official CAB meetings.

• Send personal thank-you emails after meetings.

• Follow up with them one-on-one.

• Spend quality time with them at events.

• Be available via text, WhatsApp, Slack, or email.

Of course you will involve your team in doing all of this. Just don’t forget that when CAB members feel like they have a direct line to you, and you care personally, they will be more invested and more likely to share candid feedback.

What others CEOs say

If you’ve built a CAB before, I’d love to hear what’s worked (or hasn’t worked) for you. Drop me a note or share your thoughts in the comments!

Here is what other CEOs have told me about the benefits of personally hosting customer roundtables, building advisory boards, and making the effort to personally engage with customers.

1. Diego Oppenheimer, Founder and Former CEO of Algorithmia, shares that one of the most effective strategies he used was organizing exclusive, no-sales roundtables with top industry executives. He would gather small, curated groups—such as heads of machine learning from major pharma or finance companies—for candid discussions focused purely on industry challenges, not pitching products. These sessions built lasting relationships, fostered trust, and offered invaluable insight into real customer problems.

2. Ryan Westwood, CEO at Fullcast, personally reads every G2 review and reaches out to each reviewer. He engages regularly with RevOps experts and has formed a RevOps advisory board composed of leaders from top companies like Citrix and Cloudflare. This group meets quarterly to rigorously assess and prioritize the product roadmap. Westwood insists on "ruthless prioritization" and supports active listening within his leadership team.

3. Andrew Lau, Co-Founder and CEO of Jellyfish, explains that at founding his team intentionally assumed they didn’t know what the product should be and prioritized deep customer discovery. They interviewed over 50 VPs and CTOs to validate the pain point and then offered free professional services in exchange for access to customers’ systems and insights. Through this they learned what to build and could test ideas quickly. Lau cautions that founders must maintain a clear vision to avoid one-off service work that doesn’t cohere into a product.

4. Melanie Fellay, Co-founder and CEO of Spekit, shares that before writing any code she spent several months validating her product idea through mockups, surveys, and conversations—many of which gave false confidence, as early enthusiasm didn’t translate into actual purchases. After realizing that verbal interest didn’t equal buying intent, she shifted to more creative outbound tactics to find real customers. This included reaching out to potential users under the guise of seeking feedback or content collaboration.

5. Zachary Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Packet, had the goal to become the most trusted voice in next-generation infrastructure technology. He invested heavily in engaging with the community, including writing, speaking, and contributing to forums, not just to build authority but to learn directly from users. He highlights the importance of building deep personal trust with early adopters, especially when selling a vision of the future rather than a fully mature product. He distinguishes between users, who test and provide feedback, and true customers (like Sprint), who align with the long-term vision and invest.

6. Kyle Porter, Founder and CEO of Salesloft, explains that true differentiation comes not from the product alone, but from a deep, authentic commitment to understanding and serving the customer. His team focused on helping customers become better sellers beyond their product through education, support, and thought leadership. He believes that by caring more, innovating faster, executing better, and building lasting relationships, companies can stand out and thrive even when competitors quickly replicate features or ideas.

7. Nate Rosenstock, Co-Founder and CEO of Crafty, has remained closely involved in direct customer interactions because of the deep insight and value gained. He emphasizes that even as companies scale, founders should stay engaged in sales—especially with major deals—and encourages even technical founders who may be uncomfortable with selling to push themselves to stay connected with customers for the critical learnings those interactions provide.

A well-run Customer Advisory Board can be one of the most valuable assets for a growing company.

But it’s not just about getting customers in a room. It’s about creating the right mix of people, setting a sustainable cadence, and making them feel like VIPs. Do this right, and your CAB will become a strategic advantage that gives your company a real edge.