For founders navigating the stormy waters of entrepreneurship, the effectiveness and engagement of the board can keep a company afloat—or, conversely, sink it.

In the second of a four part video mini-series, Roger Lee, general partner at Battery Ventures, and Nick Mehta, CEO of customer success management platform Gainsight*, dive into the dynamics of successful board composition and strategy.

Mehta describes Lee, a founding investor, as having undertaken a leadership role among fellow board members. He goes on to make the case that thinking strategically about board composition is critical. It’s essential, argues Mehta, to create a roster with a “diversity of opinions, backgrounds, and personalities.”

Echoing this concept, Lee says that boards of “generalists” sometimes evolve, with the “reality that none of them have time to go deep in any one area.” Lee suggests assigning different specializations – such as sales, marketing, operations, and finance – thus allowing board members to narrow their focus and mentor key executives to become “wingmen of particular disciplines.”

The next video in the series explores how Mehta manages through adversity and involves Lee and other board members in the process, with the final video analyzing Mehta’s management style, which Lee describes as exhibiting “radical transparency.” The initial video, providing lessons on how to make a CEO/VC relationship thrive, is available here.

*For a full list of all Battery investments and exits, please click here.