Confidential mandate
Board Adviser — Agritech Platform Economics
Planned Hiring / New
An agritech platform wants independent board counsel on marketplace economics, farmer trust and credit partnerships before it expands from advisory services into transactions and finance.
The mandate
The board keeps debating whether transaction and credit layers strengthen farmer outcomes or undermine trust in the advisory proposition. Growth cases count gross merchandise value but do not fully price field operations, seasonality, disputes or adverse selection.
Two monthly days include a unit-economics review and Strategy Committee meeting, plus two seasonal field visits within the term. Urgent partnership questions receive acknowledgement within two days and advice within five business days.
The nine-month engagement covers one crop cycle and the next capital plan. Renewal for a further quarter is a board decision; the adviser carries no line authority, credit decision, executive responsibility or partner-negotiation right.
Up to three other assignments may continue. Interests in competing agritech firms, lenders, input suppliers, commodity buyers or field-service vendors must be disclosed, and transaction-based remuneration is forbidden.
Why the board wants this voice
The founding team understands product and agronomy but has limited marketplace or rural-credit cycle experience. Investors want more than adoption metrics. An external operator can challenge whether expansion creates repeatable value for farmers and the platform.
What you will own
- Test farmer segments for repeat need, trust drivers and reachable contribution after field support.
- Challenge marketplace economics for quality disputes, fulfilment leakage and seasonal working capital.
- Press the board on conflicts between neutral advice and input or buyer commissions.
- Shape principles for lender partnership, consent, collections and grievance ownership.
- Examine whether assisted journeys can scale without eroding service quality.
- Guide evidence thresholds for entering a new crop, district or transaction category.
- Advise when a proposed revenue stream risks the platform's core trust asset.
Candidate qualifications
- 18–22 years in agribusiness, rural finance, marketplaces or agricultural technology leadership.
- Direct experience scaling a multi-sided rural platform through at least three crop cycles.
- Evidence of managing field-service cost, disputes and seasonal working capital.
- Understanding of farmer consent, input quality, produce transactions and credit conduct.
- Board-level skill balancing impact, growth and sustainable economics.
- Independence from prospective lenders, input suppliers and commodity buyers.
Non-negotiables
- Two Pune days monthly and two agreed field visits during the term.
- No transaction, referral or distribution income from ecosystem partners.
- Disclosure of agritech, lender, supplier, buyer and investor relationships.
- Acceptance that management retains all commercial and credit authority.
- 49 words maximum. Which rural platform did you scale, and what evidence showed farmer trust survived commercial expansion?
- 49 words maximum. What agritech, lender, supplier or buyer interests could conflict with this advisory role?
- 49 words maximum. Can you commit two monthly days and two field visits across one crop cycle?
This mandate is confidential. The client is named only under a mutual NDA, and your own record is never listed, sold or shown to a company under your name until you release it for this specific mandate.