Keep people engaged on what’s happening in your business through weekly updates.

Over the years I have written and read many flavors of founder updates and weekly updates. These are written by entrepreneurs, CEOs, product leaders, etc. to share their views with an audience (investors, managers, team, advisors, etc.). The topics often include successes, challenges, key initiatives, asks, etc. I see some entrepreneurs that lean into writing these updates with amazing consistency, and others that struggle to start or maintain that discipline.  Here are three reasons why I feel these weekly updates are immensely valuable.

Clarifying your thoughts

When I would write weekly updates to my CEO on the state of the business, I found that in the process of writing it helped me pull up out of the details. I had to summarize and frame the situation the right way, clearly articulate the decisions and rationale, and describe the proposed path forward. In putting my thoughts in writing, I was amazed how in the process of trying to summarize what was going on (which is hard), it made my mind much clearer on the best path forward and the answers became more obvious. Ultimately I feel I made better decisions by pulling back each week and trying to explain to someone else (who is less removed from the details) what is happening in the business.

Aligning the team

As part of this process, I would encourage my team to write me their own updates as well as I shared my updates with the team. I found this really helped align the team on key priorities, decisions, and challenges. Especially in a world of remote/distributed teams, putting simple summaries together is an easy way to align a team and keep things moving together. Furthermore, most people struggle with being too in the details; writing these weekly updates help keep you focused on what really matters.

Allowing investors/advisors to lean in

As an investor and advisor, I read every weekly update I receive. This is so powerful because I can quickly see what is happening, offer any advice/help if I think I can add value, as well as see what specific asks the entrepreneurs are looking for. While this is helpful for an investor who is actively involved, it can be especially helpful for those more passive as it gives them guidance on where the entrepreneur wants to engage and needs help. Many times people would love to be helpful but don’t know how/where. The weekly update can pull them in with specific asks on specific challenges.

While writing weekly updates is a discipline that takes time, I have found once you get in a rhythm it becomes much easier and it really helps you draw more clarity and alignment on the business.