Why we send our friends investor updates

I love this idea. Investor updates are one of the little things that feel painful to do at first, especially if you don't have much traction, but end up being quite impactful in terms of building relationships. People look at you differently when they can see & be part of the whole story behind your company, not just the façade you put forward at meetings, parties and such.

The one critique of this essay I have is that the suggested investor update format is too long. I would cut it to two graphs, one or two sentences on metrics, and at most five bullets giving updates on company priorities and where you need help.

We (http://www.opencagedata.com) are sending such updates. Only 3-4 metrics, less blog articles and more open thinking about future plans, priorities, conferences we attend. 6-8 paragraphs. We ask for feedback but at the same time stress that it's optional.

We get praise for being open, honest, on-time (once per month) and even send updates if there isn't anything new.

We're self-funded so strictly we don't have to send anybody any updates (other than the tax office).

| Illustration by Lssey Miyake

Actually, the illustration is by wdart[1], and the title is Lssey Miyake, a reference to the BaoBao bag in the illustration[2].

[1] https://dribbble.com/shots/2722408-Lssey-Miyake

[2] http://isseymiyake.com/en/brands/bao_bao.html

Good stuff.

Try to always link to your website in your blog post. Read this post and the example, yet didn't visit their product as there was no link to it.