Reference: GILA/PB/B04/2608
Company stage: Series B
Seat classification: Contractually independent, non-executive private-company board seat; final statutory classification to be confirmed before appointment
Primary board geography: Gurugram with depots in Jaipur and Lucknow
Meeting pattern: Eight boards, monthly asset-risk dashboard and quarterly depot assurance
Status: Confidential retained-search specification; client identity only after conflict pre-clearance and NDA.
Anonymised company context
A battery-as-a-service platform owning swappable battery packs and charging cabinets used by electric two- and three-wheeler fleets, with subscription and usage-linked customer contracts.
Series B capital of USD 40–60 million funds 25,000–40,000 deployed packs. The company does not manufacture vehicles; it uses multiple cell, pack and cabinet suppliers and serves fleet operators plus individual commercial drivers.
Calibrated market hint: The NCR base, commercial-driver focus and Jaipur/Lucknow depot network fit several mobility ventures. Candidates must treat any inference as confidential and disclose it only for conflict screening.
Why the seat exists now
The board needs independence on the pace of asset deployment, battery health, fire, theft, residual value, driver credit and concentration. Installed pack count is not an economic metric if utilisation, collections or warranty recovery fail.
At Series B, IPO-path governance means proving that growth can repeat without relying on heroic founders, spreadsheet reconciliations or investor intervention. The board must see cohort economics, regulated or safety-critical exposures, management depth and cash consequences early enough to alter the plan.
Board design, authority and boundaries
Contractual independent member; Chair of voluntary Asset, Risk & Audit Committee. The seat will not approve individual credit or run fleet operations.
The appointee is expected to ask for evidence, frame choices, record dissent and hold management accountable. The appointee is not a part-time executive, broker, operating consultant, fundraiser or representative of the investor who proposed the name. Management remains responsible for execution.
Strategic charter — first 18 months
- Create cohort reporting from purchased to commissioned, available, utilised, collected, impaired and retired batteries
- Validate useful life, residual value, degradation and refurbishment assumptions against telemetry and teardown
- Establish fire, thermal, electrical, transport and emergency critical controls across company and partner depots
- Review driver/fleet onboarding, deposits, credit, collections, repossession and customer treatment
- Govern OEM/cell/pack warranty, supplier concentration and configuration changes
- Test telemetry integrity, remote disablement, privacy and cyber recovery
- Set depot and city expansion gates around demand, grid, safety, cash and theft
- Prepare Series C and longer IPO readiness through asset verification, committee discipline and financing transparency
Decisions likely to reach this director
- Whether to accelerate pack purchases ahead of proven utilisation
- Whether weak driver cohorts require product redesign rather than collections pressure
- Whether a supplier change invalidates safety or residual assumptions
These are not hypothetical interview prompts. They describe the type of decision on which the board expects an independent company-interest view, including the ability to say “not yet,” “only with conditions,” or “stop.”
Candidate market — evidence, not labels
Essential
- Battery lifecycle, equipment leasing, fleet operations, asset finance, risk or industrial safety leader
- Cohort economics and physical-asset controls
- Board judgement
- Independence from OEMs and investors
Particularly valuable
- Lithium battery failure investigation
- Leasing/secured asset recovery
- Telemetry-led residual-value models
- Mobility scale-up under weak collections
The search is deliberately open to former operators, founders, functional leaders, investors with genuine board experience, regulators, academics with operating relevance and experienced directors. Prior service on a listed board is useful but not a proxy for judgement.
IICA Databank and legal eligibility position
This search does not impose IICA Independent Directors Databank registration or the proficiency test as a blanket application gate. The disclosed company is presently private, and the seat is designed as a contractually independent non-executive board role. Before appointment, counsel and the Company Secretary will determine whether the company’s actual legal form, public-company status, holding/subsidiary relationships, borrowing or other facts trigger any statutory independent-director requirement. If the seat is later redesignated as a statutory Independent Director role during conversion or IPO preparation, the appointee must complete every then-applicable requirement before that redesignation.
All candidates must still have a valid DIN before appointment, complete required KYC/consent/disclosures, be free of Section 164 disqualification, remain within applicable Section 165 limits, and satisfy the Articles, shareholders’ agreement, investor consent rights and any sector-specific fit-and-proper rules. “Not required to be in the Databank today” does not mean “unregulated” or “low-liability.”
Independence and conflict screens
Interests in cell/pack suppliers, OEMs, fleet operators, lenders, insurers, depot landlords or competitors; personal lending exposure; paid asset valuation for the company.
GILA will map pecuniary, advisory, investment, family, customer, supplier, competitor and investor relationships across the look-back period agreed with counsel. A fund nominee is not automatically independent; a well-known listed-company director is not automatically suitable; and a small equity holding is not automatically harmless. Substance and perception will both be assessed.
Downside diligence offered to the candidate
Before consent, the shortlisted candidate will receive under NDA: the cap table and side letters; Articles and shareholders’ agreement; last six board packs and minutes; cash/runway case; material contracts; regulatory, litigation, IP and related-party schedules; insurance policies; founder/KMP employment and equity terms; latest audit or financial review; whistleblower and incident summary; and a written statement of the expected board/committee classification. The candidate may request independent legal advice through an agreed protocol.
First-year evidence of success
The target is repeatable unit economics, institutional controls and leadership capacity strong enough for a larger institutional round and eventual listing preparation. For this mandate, the board will look for:
- Asset existence and status reconcile physically and digitally
- Safety controls pass independent tests
- Cohort collections and residual values are evidence-based
- Expansion capital follows city/depot gates
Commitment, economics and protection
- Expected commitment: 26–34 days annually with depot presence and incident availability.
- Commercial terms: Three-year term. Fixed cash fee; no lending/collection incentive. Equity separately assessed. Product/fire, crime, cyber and D&O cover with written indemnity required.
- Minimum protection: a written appointment letter, information and inspection rights, minuting of dissent, a deed of indemnity to the extent legally available, appropriate D&O with advancement and run-off, and access to independent advice.
- No hidden commercial role: no placement fee, sales referral, government liaison, customer introduction or consulting retainer is implied by the board appointment. Any separate engagement would require prior board approval, conflict review and clear disclosure; in many cases it will be prohibited.
Search and appointment process
Conflict pre-clearance → founder and lead-investor conversations held separately → GILA/SYMPHONY™ board-fit assessment → live mandate case → cap-table/SHA and board-pack diligence under NDA → references including one from a difficult company period → joint founder/investor/NRC session → legal, reputation and independence checks → board/shareholder appointment under the constitutional documents.