INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
my startup ceased to exist
chore of writing a short report for investors
We used the PPP format (progress, problems and plans) for these regular missives, but progress was almost always slow and most of the time,
according to a research conducted by Jan Luca Ernst, a masters student at The University of St
Gallen, I may have been misguided
In his thesis, supported by Prof
Elgar Fleisch (Professor of Technology Management at University of St
to btov Partners by portfolio companies out of its first two funds, which ran between 2006 to 2014
Specifically, researchers looked at 64 startups, covering the performance of startups during the first two years after initial investment
a startup would be more successful
In contrast, the frequency of reporting (at a confidence level of 95%), as well as the quality of the reporting (at a confidence level of
Startups that submit regular, high-quality reports are shown by the statistics to be better investments than other startups
and regularity of submission
What should a monthly report contain?Florian Schweitzer: We always define what we would like or what we think would be sensible, because for
each startup, of course, it is different
In general, the idea is that the founders can do the report in half an hour
Usually, it contains something like eight KPIs, and then some bullet points reflecting on what went well, and what are the challenges right
And those challenges are a superb opportunity to understand where the founder is struggling, and where we can support them
So it can be a very, very productive agenda for a discussion, which we usually have regularity.I think it is very good that founders sit
back and think for half an hour: what happened during the last 30 days? What did I want to achieve? What did I not achieve? And to be honest
about the progress and challenges.
