Why Plural Energy’s Founder Fires Advisors Who Don’t Provide “Perpetual Value”

Why Plural Energy’s Founder Fires Advisors Who Don’t Provide “Perpetual Value”

Most founders treat advisor equity like tenure—once granted, it’s permanent. The advisor made three introductions in month one, gave strategic feedback in month two, and by month three they’ve essentially retired while their shares vest. You can’t take it back, so you accept it as the cost of doing business.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Adam Silver, CEO and Co-Founder of Plural Energy, shared why he rejects this orthodoxy entirely. He’s canceled advisory agreements mid-stream when the value stopped flowing. His framework is ruthlessly practical: advisors must provide “something in perpetuity” or they don’t deserve equity. Here’s how to apply this to your own cap table before it’s too late.

The Problem: Advisors Are Too Easy to Add

Early-stage founders face constant pressure to add advisors. Investors ask who’s on your advisory board. Your network offers to help in exchange for small equity stakes. The barrier to adding an advisor is low.

But equity is permanent. Once you’ve allocated 0.5% to an advisor, that’s 0.5% you can’t offer your next critical hire. Most founders realize this too late—after giving away meaningful equity to people who helped once but provide no ongoing value.

Adam faced this directly. “I think at the beginning, I was a little bit too keen to offer advisory roles, to be honest,” he admits.

The Uncomfortable Conversation

Adam actually did something about it. “In some cases, I even had to, you know, tell an advisor that I was going to be canceling his shares and that they were. That I appreciate the advice they’d given, but, I, the shares would be more effective, use somewhere else.”

Adam told advisors he was canceling their shares. These are inherently awkward conversations. But protecting your cap table is more important than avoiding awkward moments. The cost of misallocated equity compounds over years.

The Perpetual Value Framework

Adam’s solution isn’t to avoid advisors—it’s to be ruthlessly selective about who gets equity based on a single criterion. “You got to make sure that if you’re asking someone to be your advisor, they’re going to be able to provide something in perpetuity,” Adam emphasizes.

This shifts the entire framing. Most founders ask: “Can this person help me?” Adam asks: “Will this person still be generating value for Plural Energy in year three? Year five? Year ten?”

If the answer is no—if the advisor’s value is frontloaded in a few intros or one-time strategic guidance—then they shouldn’t get equity. Pay them cash for consulting. Give them a thank you gift. But don’t give them ownership in your company.

Three Types of Perpetual Value

Adam identifies three categories worth equity:

Ongoing deal flow: One advisor “sends us deals all the time.” Their daily work naturally generates opportunities. This doesn’t stop—it’s built into how they operate.

Structural partnerships: Another advisor partners on every transaction: “Essentially now she and Plural Energy go to market together, where she does the debt and we do the equity.”

Real-time market intelligence: Some provide perpetual strategic value. Adam can call anytime: “What are bank rates at right now? What are renewable energy project bank rates at right now? And she’ll have answer on the spot.”

Notice what’s missing: resume credibility, one-time introductions, general strategic advice. These are valuable—but not perpetual.

The Stage-Based Filter

Adam adds timing nuance: “The advisors that you can get when you’re a pre seed company and the advisors you can get later are not necessarily the same.”

Early-stage companies can attract senior operators with pure equity because upside is enormous. But not every senior operator provides perpetual value. Filter aggressively early—because the impressive names you can attract at pre-seed won’t all be available later.

Finding Religion With Advisors

“They either got to believe in you, they got to believe in the company, they got to believe in the idea, they got to believe that you’re making your world easy, their world easier,” Adam explains.

An advisor might have capability but lack motivation. Without genuine belief, they won’t prioritize your needs when busy, won’t think of you when opportunities arise. The best advisors are missionaries, not mercenaries. That intrinsic motivation creates truly perpetual value.

The Cap Table Is Your Sales Team

Adam’s advisor strategy is his GTM strategy. “One of our biggest sources of pipeline is from our advisors.” The result? “About $300 million of assets in our pipeline, and that’s been mainly inbound from just our network.”

When you allocate equity to advisors who provide perpetual value, you’re building a distributed sales engine. Compare this to giving equity to impressive names who make intros in month one, then disappear. You’ve spent equity on credibility signaling instead of pipeline generation.

Implementation Guide

Here’s how to apply Adam’s framework:

Audit current advisors: For each existing advisor, ask: “Have they provided value in the last 90 days?” If no, they fail the perpetuity test. Have the difficult conversation.

Define perpetual value for your business: What activities, if done consistently, would generate ongoing value? Deal flow? Partnership access? Technical guidance? Market intelligence? Be specific.

Prospect for activities, not resumes: Don’t seek advisors because they have impressive backgrounds. Seek them because their daily activities naturally create value for you.

Test for religion: Before offering equity, validate that they genuinely believe in your mission. Transactional advisors won’t generate perpetual value.

Set clear expectations upfront: Make the perpetuity standard explicit in your initial conversations. This prevents awkwardness later when you evaluate ongoing value.

Schedule regular reviews: Every six months, assess each advisor’s value creation. Are they still providing perpetual value? If not, have the conversation now rather than later.

The Unpopular Truth

Adam’s approach won’t make you popular. Canceling equity agreements creates tension. Some advisors will be offended.

But building a successful company isn’t a popularity contest. Your cap table is one of your most valuable assets. Protecting it requires uncomfortable decisions.

The advisors who truly provide perpetual value will understand this framework. The advisors who object are usually those who know they’re not providing ongoing value.

Plural Energy’s $300 million pipeline proves the framework works. When you allocate equity only to advisors who provide something in perpetuity, you build a cap table that actively works for your business—not just a list of impressive names that helped once and disappeared.