How to write an investor update in less than 15 minutes

Our investors love our investor updates. So much that they asked to share it with other companies they invest in.

We thought we’d share it with everyone.

Providing your investors with an update on a regular basis is not only a great way to keep them informed, it can also be a good time to ask them for assistance when and where you need it.

Whether it is asking for advice on your current direction or how to address critical issues and threats, investors also generally have valuable networks of contacts that you can ask them to introduce you to.

And besides, updating your investors also means they can feel happy that you are making progress and hitting the milestones that you have agreed.

If you’re not on track it’s also a great platform to raise the issues and open a communication channel with them. As long as an investor feels engaged and updated — whether it is good or bad news – it shows them that you have identified these issues and taking action to fix them.

If you don’t meet your commitments, and this is not being communicated with them, then that’s where the problems start.

So why have we made our investor update template to the public?

Because every investor that has seen it has asked if they can share it with their other companies they have invested in. Most importantly if it helps anyone else out there do updates faster and more professionally, then great as that’s our ethos at PromisePay.

The first time you complete this it will take a couple of hours to set up and get the first round of content in there. After this you will be able to do this in 15 minutes or less. We use Google docs so everyone can jump in and add their update and then it’s also easy to share with investors once ready.

Remember your investors are also busy so try to get all you need to communicate on the general overview page. They should only need to dive deeper if there is a reason to or they just love what you do.

Use the traffic light report to direct their attention and don’t be afraid to put things into amber or red we do all the time, it is best to be transparent with them so that if any issues or KPI’s need to be pointed out they are well aware of it.

So here’s our template. 

This piece was first published on Medium. 

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter,LinkedIn and SoundCloud.