Open with the contribution you bring
Begin with a short, specific summary of the work you know. A sector, a company stage and a set of challenges can say more than a string of senior titles.
Use a description that is true to your own background. Do not add board experience, investment experience or results you cannot substantiate.
Turn responsibilities into evidence
For each relevant role, describe the situation, your contribution and the outcome. Explain the decisions you helped make, not just the function you managed.
A simple structure
- Context: what was happening in the business?
- Contribution: what did you personally do or help decide?
- Evidence: what changed, and what can you fairly attribute to your work?
Keep claims proportionate. Distinguish between leading an initiative, contributing to it and observing it. If a result belongs to a team, say so.
Make the pattern visible
Help the reader connect your examples. Perhaps you repeatedly built teams from scratch, navigated regulated environments, supported expansion or worked alongside founders at a particular stage.
That pattern is often the most useful part of your story. Put relevant experience first rather than giving every past position equal space.
Separate formal board appointments from advisory, executive and voluntary experience. Each can be valuable without being presented as something it is not.
Be clear about what you want next
State the kinds of roles you are open to, the contribution you want to make and any practical constraints that matter. A Chair appointment, NED role, advisory relationship and fractional leadership role have different remits.
Do not let a title do all the explaining. If you are unsure where you fit, start with our board roles guide and describe the work you want to do.
Read it from the founder’s side
Before sharing your Board CV, ask whether a founder can answer three questions quickly:
- What has this person actually done?
- Which of our next challenges might they understand?
- Why would it be useful to have a conversation?
Remove unsupported claims, unexplained jargon and confidential details. Keep the story focused on relevance.
On Boardly, you build your Boardly Profile once. After your application is reviewed, a relevant founder brief can lead to a direct email introduction. Your profile is visible to matched founders, not public browsing.
New to this? Read how to approach your first board role.