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What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

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Re: What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

#21

Post by Brajeshwar »

talentedcoin wrote: post #9

Why is notion the tool all the cool kids seems to like for this stuff? (Serious question)

I really like Notion and use it for many scenario. However, I'd be very careful of not having your own format and/of the content that you should be able to walk out without much pain.

I have heard of some people who have moved bag and baggage to Notion to even replace the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. I'd be extra careful of being so tied to something you can't switch easily or walk out to another platform/tool.

Please do keep in mind how Evernote went from a plan of a 100-year note-taking to "what went wrong with that company".

Re: What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

#23

Post by choppaface »

Oras wrote: post #13
choppaface wrote: post #7

The virtue-signaling in this article is pretty intense. It's like somebody tested all the burritos in Silicon Valley and wanted to remind founders to wrap their burritos in foil and serve them warm. I mean, I'm sure there are founders who absent-mindedly deliver burrito bowls or the occasional tacos two days late. But near the end: > Never miss a date. (bold) The rigor of this commitment will have an outsized effect…

What is high quality in these few lines? I found it quite clear to follow, and it has value not just for investors but for founders, too. They are learning to summarize their month in a few clear lines. Isn't that the basics of communication?

It’s about investors hiding the consequences that are not visible to founders and/or whoever does not have access to these reports. Should all founders be capable of these reports? Yeah! I bet most non-founder employees could even write them too (and in fact do in most cases).

Re: What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

#25

Post by choppaface »

ThisIsTheWay wrote: post #8

I quite like the inclusion of the help needed section. I work for a publicly traded company so I don't know if it has much application for our size, but for a pre-IPO company it seems like a great opportunity to leverage the skills of their smaller investor base. I also like the transparency of sharing it with ALL investors, and would add that it needs to be shared with all employees as well. Our publicly traded comp…

Some founders do actually share these updates with the employees! With some redactions of course. Wouldn’t want the employees to know about impending layoffs or what inspired them.

Re: What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

#29

Post by chiefalchemist »

Those founders who are so comfortable sharing their ups and downs and who desire discourse and advice across the cap table are clearly the ones who are in it to win it.

So comfortable? Maybe. A start up is about leaving your comfort zone, whether you want to or not.

Practical and smart? Absolutely. Aside from adding (experienced) voices to your talent pool, such "marketing" helps with any future needs for more money. Being less transparent and asking for more simply isn't a reasonable expectation.

As a side note, this format reminds me of the comms framework in the book "Smart Brevity."

Re: What I Learned Reading 1k Investor Reports

#30

Post by soerxpso »

mym1990 wrote: post #20
bangelo wrote: post #19

read early amazon shareholder reports. contain none of these. the leaders that matter talk about the product 5-8 years from the time of writing. what differentiates a CEO from a leader

Survivorship bias.

What? That's literally the point. Why would you want to imitate startups that don't survive?
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