My involvement with Blippo+ required confidentiality during development. In the past I’ve often asked myself “What Would the Shareholders Want?” when faced with something that I can’t put to a vote. And after 17 years of being publicly traded I have a general sense of the desires of the collective, but I think we can do better.
Looking back I can see three workable solutions to the problems:
- Mike Acts Alone – This is the route I chose for Blippo+. The project required secrecy and so I decided my involvement was more important than formal shareholder approval.
- Board Oversight – This solution didn’t exist at the time, but having a board of directors means I have a semi-private solution where I can ask the board to act as a proxy for the shareholders.
- Coded Disclosure – I experimented with this a little, but a way to maintain privacy as well as share at least how much effort is involved would be to apply a code-name to a private project.
So thinking about how a formal process like this would work, there would likely be some sort of threshold from Mike Acts Alone to Board Oversight to Coded Disclosure. To keep it simple this is probably best measure in hours per week.
- ~ 2-5 hours per week for no more than a month – Mike Alone
- ~ 5-10 hours per week for anything longer than a week – Board Oversight
- > 10 hours per week for anything longer than a week – Coded Disclosure
Examples
- Making a Zine – Kathryn and Mike decide to make a zine based on their idea for Classic Blasts. Assuming this is about 3 hours of work a week for two to three weeks, this is a Mike Acts Alone project.
- Co-Host a Podcast – Mike is invited to be a regular co-host of a podcast someone else is producing, editing, etc. If he is putting in about 4 hours a week this would require notification and Board Oversight.
- Writing a Screenplay (film of tv) – Mike is taking on (likely with a partner) a major effort to create a tv or film project. He’s spending hours every day on his for multiple weeks. This would require board oversight and a Coded Disclosure to the shareholders.
- Full Time Job – Mike is recruited for a new full time job, but is required to wait until it’s official before announcing. This would require Board Oversight.
- New Venture – Mike is founding or co-founding a new company or project. This would be a regular public vote because there is no requirement for confidentiality.
The Proposal
Should KmikeyM adopt a formal, time-based governance policy for confidential projects that cannot be disclosed publicly at the time of initiation?
- ☐ Yes – Adopt the proposed protocol, which uses expected time commitment to determine governance routing (Mike Alone, Board Oversight, and Coded Disclosure).
- ☐ No – Do not change. Things are working fine. Continue relying on Mike’s personal discretion in managing confidential projects.
- ☐ Revise – I support the idea of formal governance for confidential projects, but recommend adjustments. (Please explain in comments.)
Note: hours per week updated based on shareholder feedback
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