The 1-2-3 Investor Update That Puts You Ahead of Half Your Peers
FYI = ROI.
Here’s why writing investor updates is the highest-leverage 30 minutes of your month, plus an easy formula that puts you ahead of half your peers.
On the 1st of the month, two of our founders landed at the top of my inbox. By the next morning, I’d done something for each.
This was partially good luck: I happened to have a useful connection for both of them that week. One got an engineering candidate who had sent me his resume the day before. The other’s blurb went to a potential customer I had just gotten coffee with.
The part that wasn’t luck? Both send investor updates like clockwork.
You don’t get lucky if you aren’t top of mind. Investors don’t like to admit it, but our help gets doled out to the squeakiest wheel. It’s not ‘fair’ but it is human. So make it your mission to stay top of mind any way you can.
Monthly updates aren’t busywork to deprioritize or a report card you owe your investors. They’re a standing excuse to get in front of your most incentivized champions and put us to work. Some months, your investors may skim and archive. Other months, you’ll remind someone about your product right before they meet with an enterprise buyer who could change your trajectory.
Stop sending, and you don’t just lose a touchpoint. You lose every serendipitous connection it would have caught. It’s also tougher to share the bad news in an ‘off-cycle’.
You can keep it simple. Don’t write an essay. Tell us the month’s 1-2-3:
1️⃣ Win: What should we brag about when we’re talking to other VCs and potential customers?
2️⃣ Updates: What do we need to know? Critical customers closed, products launched, new hires?
3️⃣ Asks: What can we do for you? A specific intro? Product feedback? What would actually move the needle?
The rest shouldn’t change much:
➕ KPIs: Pick your core stats and stick with them.
➕ Visuals: Charts/ dashboards/ demo screenshots are gold. Quicker to parse and more tangible than words. Is there a KPI you’re watching as a trend line? Add a recurring chart.
➕ ICP: We need to know who you’re selling to so we can find you customers. At early startups, ICPs change often. Even if yours doesn’t, please remind us monthly. It helps.
➕ 1-Liner: If I’m at a dinner party, how should I explain your company? Put it in every update.
The mechanics are simple. The ROI is huge and unpredictable. You’ve been heads down, but your company is evolving and we love every uncomfortable stage (even the teenage years).
