The One Email You Should Write this Month
If a founder sends one email this month, it should be the easily-digestible, transparent, data-rich retrospective a founder circulates to each of his or her individual investors. The almighty monthly update communicates what happened and has the potential to predict a startup’s ultimate fate.
Part of my job at The Startup Factory is to keep tabs on the health of our portfolio companies. It’s part and parcel of knowing when I can help plug them into our network of angels & VCs when they want funding. More importantly for the early stage when we invest, it lets me know when to dig in.
Jason Calacanis wrote, “If your startup isn’t sending updates, it’s going out of business.” (Read his whole exegesis on the importance of writing investor updates here.)
After 18 months of watching this dynamic play out, it’s clear to me that Jason is right. Categorically, I hear from the ones who are doing well, not so much from the ones who aren’t. The ones that write share the good news and ask directly for help with the challenges they face. The ones who could probably benefit from some outside brains go radio silent.