🏛️ Board Preparation · Phase 4 of 5
Ethics Review Board Preparation
Study each board member's focus, anticipate their challenge, and prepare your strongest response before entering the session.
🤖 Kai — Mentor Note
The board is not looking for perfect products — they are looking for founders who have genuinely grappled with hard questions. The weakest answers are ones that deflect ("we'll figure that out later") or are impossibly vague ("we care deeply about fairness"). The strongest answers name specific mechanisms, acknowledge trade-offs, and demonstrate you've thought about failure.
Know Your Board — Prepare a Response Strategy for Each Member
Dr. Amani's Focus
Who is systematically left out of your training data? Who cannot access or benefit from your product due to structural barriers? Does "free" actually mean accessible?
Anticipated Challenge (predict her hardest question)
Prof. Chen's Focus
When your system causes harm — who is legally and ethically liable? How will you detect performance degradation over time? Is there a meaningful appeal mechanism for affected parties?
Ms. Reyes's Focus
What unintended systemic effects could your product create at scale — dependency, displacement of human services, gentrification, mission drift? Did the community you claim to serve co-design this with you?
Pre-Session Self-Assessment — Complete Immediately Before Your Board Session
What is your product's biggest ethical weakness?
Which board member will challenge you hardest — and why?
What trade-off in your design would you change if you had more time?
What is the ONE thing that would make the board approve your product without conditions?