Stakeholder Bloat
Max three decision-makers per venture. Anyone else is an advisor. Coordination cost grows exponentially with voices, and decisions slow to the most cautious person in the room.
Committees kill speed. Every additional decision-maker on a venture adds not linear but exponential coordination cost — three voices is double the friction of two, four is double again. The hard rule: maximum three decision-makers per venture at any time. Anyone else is an advisor, not a board member, unless they're actively operating.
The trap is the "silent partner" who contributed an idea and now expects strategic influence. The fix is to create a real silent-partner track: capital or resources in, no governance rights out. Without that track, every idea contributor becomes a quasi-board member, and decisions slow to the speed of the most cautious person in the room.