Fast Company Executive Board

The Fast Company Executive Board is a paid, application-vetted online community of senior executives, founders, business owners and subject-matter experts, operated by Fast Company, part of Mansueto Ventures, LLC. It follows the same model as the other publisher-run councils: members qualify against a published financial or professional test, are screened by a vetting process, and pay for a one-year or two-year term. The published criteria require at least one of the following: CEO, C-suite or senior executive of a company generating US$3m or more in annual revenue; vice president or above leading a region or division at a company of the same size; founder or co-founder of a company generating US$2m or more in annual revenue or holding US$2m or more in total institutional funding; or founder of a nonprofit generating US$1m or more in annual revenue. An alternative route admits people earning US$50,000 or more a year from speaking, delivering 25 or more paid speaking engagements a year, publishing through an established house, or contributing regularly to industry publications. Benefits centre on publishing opportunities on FastCompany.com, Expert Panels, an executive profile, a vetted member directory and chat groups, virtual events, press release tools, editorial and concierge support, and complimentary membership of the EXEC travel and lifestyle programme.

How it works

Applicants submit an online application, which is vetted against the published qualifications, and pay on acceptance for either a one-year term or a discounted two-year term. Members work through a custom portal and mobile app: they contribute to Expert Panels, publish bylined articles with editorial support, maintain an executive profile, join interactive groups, use the member directory and chat, and attend virtual events. A concierge and editorial team supports article preparation. There are no local chapters and no facilitated confidential forums.

Typical member

CEOs, C-suite and senior executives at companies with at least US$3m in annual revenue; vice presidents and above who lead a region or division at companies of the same size; founders of companies with at least US$2m in revenue or institutional funding; and nonprofit founders at organisations with at least US$1m in revenue. An alternative expertise track admits professional speakers, published authors and regular columnists.

The Fast Company board sets the highest published revenue bar of the publisher councils in this batch - US$3m for executives against Forbes's US$500,000 to US$1m - which makes its membership base measurably more senior on paper. In practice the product is the same: a route to a byline on a well-known business title, packaged with a directory and virtual events. Two things are worth knowing before joining. First, Fast Company does not publish the fee anywhere on its own site; a figure of roughly US$2,000 to US$3,000 a year circulates on third-party sites and could not be independently verified. Second, the alternative expertise track means a member's presence does not by itself imply the headline revenue test was met. The board is run in-house by Fast Company rather than by Community.co, unlike most of its peers.

Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.