I see loads of startups building products for engineers and ICs, yet have CIOs, CTOs or CISOs as advisors. What is the value in having such an advisory board? What am I missing?
It adds credibility without payment. We did that in the first year of our startup. More photos to our about-us page and people in the industry took us more serious. So mostly marketing though keeping in regular contact with advisors also helps long-term, e.g. when looking to hire. (We actually gave advisors shares but 2-3 years later paid them a one-time fixed sum instead as thank you. None of the advisors asked for payment though).