As an investor Range Ventures, Adam Burrows and I receive lots of monthly updates from companies, some from portfolio companies and some from companies we are tracking. Some are short, some are long, some are laden with metrics, and some focus on just a few key items.
All of the above can be effective as long as they are well organized, clearly written, and convey the key issues the founders are focused on solving to build a great company.
However, recently we’ve noticed a shift in the content of these updates that we find highly ineffective and off-putting for an investor update.
What is ineffective? Starting with, or including a long section on all the fun things outside of work you and your team are doing. Do we need to know who took what vacation this month? Or if someone on your team ran a marathon? Or if someone installed a bird feeder?
Should you and your team have a life outside of work? Absolutely, but your investor update is not the place to focus on that.
Here IS what we are looking for:
1) Progress toward big OKRs
2) Trends of key metrics
3) Key hires (made or need to be made)
4) New customer insights
5) Very specific, actionable asks for investors
6) Burn/fundraising timeline
Building a company is serious, as investors, we’re entrusted with other people’s money to make them more money.
We’re looking for serious people, doing serious, hard things. Your investor update is a good place to demonstrate this.