🚫 Startups, Stop Taking Advice from YouTube Doctors and Retired Bureaucrats

In the race to build the future, too many startups are anchored to the past.

Scroll through pitch decks and you'll see a common pattern: boards stacked with retired bureaucrats, ex-scientists, academic celebrities, or YouTube-famous generalists. These are people who may carry prestige—but have rarely, if ever, built or scaled anything in the real world of startups. It’s as if clout has replaced capability.

🧠 Experience ≠ Relevance

Let’s get one thing straight: experience doesn’t always translate into relevance. Just because someone held a high post 10 years ago doesn’t mean they understand the velocity, volatility, or mental models of today’s tech landscape.

Would you ask a retired steam-engine engineer to design your EV architecture? Then why are we asking retired bureaucrats to advise on AI startups? Or former scientists to validate business models they've never had to sell?

It’s like hiring Nandan Nilekani to advise on AI—not because he’s building it, but because he was once the CEO of Infosys. Respect the legacy, but don’t confuse it with current value.

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🎤 The “Advisory Board” Vanity Trap

Too often, advisory boards are filled for optics, not impact. It looks impressive to investors and media—but behind the scenes, these advisors rarely:

• Challenge flawed business models

• Attract top talent

• Navigate the chaos of scaling

• Help iterate product-market fit

They attend Zoom calls, give vague advice, name-drop a few government contacts, and disappear.

What you need instead are builders—not just talkers.

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🛠️ Choose Builders Over Bureaucrats

Great advisory boards aren’t filled with ex-anythings. They’re built with now-somethings:

• Founders who’ve scaled and failed and scaled again

• Designers who’ve shipped and iterated in high-pressure markets

• Product leaders who understand user psychology better than policy

• Engineers who know what "zero to one" really feels like

The best advice doesn’t come from lecture halls or post-retirement hobbyists. It comes from the trenches.

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🚀 Advice for the Advice-Seekers

• Don’t confuse pedigree with performance.

• Vet advisors not for what they did 20 years ago—but what they’re doing now.

• Avoid “celebrity advisors” who only want LinkedIn clout.

• Prioritize executors, not theorists.

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🧭 Final Word

If your startup is a spaceship, then your advisors should be rocket scientists—not hot-air balloon pilots from the past.

The future is being built in real-time. Surround yourself with people who are building it with you—not just commenting from the sidelines.