5 Tips (and 5 Articles) About Creating Impactful Investor Updates
Yes, the dreaded investor update email is often regarded as an annoying task that founders have to carve out valuable time to complete. However, when executed properly, this can be an important tool for honest reflection on how your business is progressing, maintaining connectivity with your investors and enlisting their support for some of the biggest challenges that your business is facing at any given time.
Here are a few tips for turning this chore into an opportunity:
- Establish a cadence and maintain it. Honestly, getting started is the hardest part. If you haven’t started sending updates yet (or even if you’re just getting started), think about the frequency of updates that makes sense for a company at your present stage. Inputs that can help determine the frequency of your update include, but are not limited to: current cash on hand, progress towards Product Market Fit, length of sales motions and/or time required to see changes in Key Metrics that measure the health of your business. While some founders might assume investor updates need to be sent monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly might be best for you.
- Provide investors with a sufficient amount of context. It is your job to familiarize your investors with the Key Metrics that you and your leadership team are managing towards. If this context isn’t built during live conversations, it may be worthwhile explaining why you’ve selected a given set of metrics as you kick off your update emails. Once that understanding has been established, this consistent set of measures can help an investor easily glean how your business is pacing and likely reduce the back-and-forth associated with follow-up emails seeking more information.
- Make the update email work for you. Your investor updates provide you with another valuable opportunity to tell your story. This is a good place to highlight your understanding of developments across your competitive landscape and more generally in the broader market. If you’re seeing trends shift and/or preparing your business for a change in market conditions, this is a great place to let investors know that you’re thinking about the future while simultaneously optimizing for the present.
- Remind your investors why they invested. Repeat your company mantra/motto/slogan/vision every single time. Your investors bet on you and your vision for the future. This simple touch can keep them connected and bought in to what you’re building.
- Make your asks clear. A good investor endeavors to be more than just a check. So make it easy for them to find ways to do work on your behalf. Make sure your asks are specific (“Please share this job description with your network”) and prioritized (“Our highest priority for the next quarter is finding C-Suite contacts at Fortune 500 companies”).
Anything you feel we’ve missed? If so, please let us know in the comments below.
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Looking for more tips and tricks? Check out the 5 Articles below: