In more mature companies there will be certain levels of decision delegation, usually tied to CapEx approval or the like, that require board approval vs. senior delegation vs. mid-level delegation. For example, it may be that mid-level managers can approve $10k spend, VPs can approve $1m, EVPs can approve $10m and the board must take anything higher.
This usually dovetails in with project management stage gates, in that for the project to progress to a latter stage, it must pass the financial stage gate to secure funding for that stage. To get that funding then triggers the aformentioned approval process.
Other decisions that may go to the board are executive team hiring, or the approval of major policy.
In start-ups, that's obviously going to be different but hopefully that paints the idea of what a board does. It's essentially a semi-democratic leadership structure for companies, rather than having a single founder run the show. By diversifying that decisionmaking process you, in theory, avoid the big blunders falling on a single person.
This usually dovetails in with project management stage gates, in that for the project to progress to a latter stage, it must pass the financial stage gate to secure funding for that stage. To get that funding then triggers the aformentioned approval process.
Other decisions that may go to the board are executive team hiring, or the approval of major policy.
In start-ups, that's obviously going to be different but hopefully that paints the idea of what a board does. It's essentially a semi-democratic leadership structure for companies, rather than having a single founder run the show. By diversifying that decisionmaking process you, in theory, avoid the big blunders falling on a single person.