​In Scaling Up, the author Verne Harnish outlines the importance of establishing a rhythm for your company's meetings.

In my experience, this is challenging for founders, especially those running bootstrapped startups. This is mainly due to not having enough time (due to usually having a day job) or not understanding the benefits of regular meetings.

The point of establishing a rhythm for your meetings is that it creates a pulse for your business. A sense of regularity that helps your staff time and plan their work against.

Here are three regular meetings you should consider:

1. Daily Status Report

In my view it's the most important one.

Purpose: to provide as sense of the project's momentum to everyone on the team.

Typical agenda:

Each team member answers these 3 questions:

1. What did I do today?
2. What am I doing next work day?
3. What am I stuck on (if anything)?

This one can easily be done asynchronously.

[As an aside, these 3 questions come from the SCRUM methodology, and have recently been declared as optional. In my experience they work well for their purpose.]

​2. Weekly Product Review

Purpose: ​The product owner and lead developer (roles may vary for you) meet weekly to review the project's progress at a high level.

Typical Agenda:

Metrics

1. How are we tracking against the identified metrics? (e.g. signups, cancellations, session duration)

Work

1. What was built last week?
2. What is in progress?
3. Identifying and resolving any issues with progress.
4. Reallocation: does the WIP still make sense in light of the current priorities?

​3. Monthly IT Strategy Review

Purpose: The business owner and key senior staff meet to review the project from the POV of the overall IT strategy.

Typical agenda:

1. Are our infrastructure costs increasing/decreasing/static?
2. Are our infrastructure metrics showing any warnings?
3. Where can we cut costs without impacting quality?
4. What efficiency gains could we realise by adding new services/tools?
5. Are we adequately addressing security risks?
6. Are there major changes coming that require new infrastructure?

[​You may note that this isn't very comprehensive. That is because it's tailored for an early-stage startup.]
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​You can decide on whatever rhythm makes sense for your team and your situation but there should be a rhythm.

And if you're not clear on the reason for a meeting, get rid of it!