The longer I do this, the more I’m convinced that the humble Weekly Update might be the most powerful tool of startup success.

There’s a reason that every founder in the Studio, starting when they’re an Entrepreneur-In-Residence, does a Weekly Update.

Many of our portfolio founders do them too.

If you ask us for a suggestion — “what will help me as I’m building my startup?” — it’s one of the first things we mention.

(Authentic Demand is the other! Especially if you’re in the idea and discovery stage.)

Here’s why the Weekly Update is so powerful, why I think every founder who is serious should do it, and the key components of a great Weekly Update!

What Is A Weekly Update?

An email you send every week to key stakeholders (investors, employees, smart friends, your mom) with an update about the business you are building.

We like a Sunday update because it anchors week ahead and can be read Sunday night or first thing Monday.

6 Ways A Weekly Update Can 10x Your Progress

1. Deep Thinking

Forces you to step out of the weeds, be strategic and thoughtful, look at your business as a whole at least 1x/wk. You can spot problematic trends and see new opportunities.

2. Accountability

Every founder works hard. But knowing you’ll be sharing your progress with others, adds a little extra incentive to deliver value each week.

3. Speed

It’s weekly for a reason. Meaningful weekly progress over months and years is how great companies are built. Each week matters.

4. Focus

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day or your own creative brain, and all the sudden, you’re doing 10 projects but none move needle!

What is most important right now? Spending time every week to answer this question helps you (and your team) focus on what really matters!

5. Help

“Asks” are a key part of a weekly update. What do you need help on? You never know what sales deal or business problem will get a key assist by someone who receives your update!

6. Serendipity

Weekly Updates keep you top of mind with your key stakeholders. Maybe they have an intro or idea for you. You increase the frequency and likelihood of serendipity with a weekly communication!

8 Key Components of a Weekly Update

1. Who You Are

One sentence about your mission, your company elevator pitch, or something quick to anchor the rest of the update.

I can repeat verbatim the mission statements of several companies because it’s at the top of their weekly update. One time, I knew it better than the founder. 😉

2. Progress & Priorities

What did you get done. What is important to do next.

With a bigger company, you may have department sections.

At the idea stage, you’re reflecting on your learnings and explaining what you’re exploring next.

Regardless of how you structure it, this is the (plant-based) meat of the update!

3. Metrics

How are you measuring success?

Identify your business’s key metrics or goals and track those every week. Right at the top. Make it the same order every week.

DON’T HIDE FROM THE DATA!!!

Yes, it will evolve as you grow, scale, pivot, learn.

You don’t need to track sales revenue if you’re in the customer discovery phase.

But too often I see founders who don’t do this because they don’t like what it says.

Are your sales at $0?

Report that metric every week so that you stay focused on improving it!

What gets measured gets managed.

4. Stories

Open with a customer quote. Vary your email subject line. Have a “Points of Interest” section. Include a video or photo.

All real examples of ways that founders tell stories within their update.

It makes the update fun and adds humanity and depth to what they’re building.

5. Your Personality

Every founder is different. Every update is different.

It’s fun and expected for your update to reflect your style as a leader.

Look at a couple examples, try out a couple variations, and eventually, you will land on something that feels right for you.

6. Good & Bad

If it’s always good news…

1) I don’t believe you
2) I can’t help you

Make sure to be appropriately candid about challenges!

You can be positive about it, have solutions you are testing, but don’t bury the bad stuff.

If sales are slow and you don’t mention it, you’re clueless, you’re delusional, you think I’m dumb, something is terribly wrong, or all of the above. None of which we want!

7. Asks

Let us help you! What do you need?

Most times, people can’t help.

But every now and then, they will know the right person, or it will remind them about a good sales prospect.

Asking for help is one of the things that accelerates the journey!

8. Not Too Long

The shorter and cleaner, the better. Might sound counter-intuitive.

“I want people to know alllll the things we’re working on.”

But too much can feel chaotic, overwhelming, or unfocused.

(Note to self: take your own advice 😂)

That said, I get some updates that are quite long but they’re well-formatted and thoughtfully written so I read them fully.

Exceptions for everything!

8. Consistent Format

Some founders do section headers with bullets. Some do more of a story-like format with paragraphs. Some do a table with metrics and a customer quote.

There’s lots of good ways to do it, it’s fine to test out new formats, but focus on finding a consistent structure!

If you mix it up too much, it’s hard to follow.

What About Every Other Week or Monthly?

That’s a no for me, dawg.

If you want more speed, accountability, help, focus, and serendipity, it needs to be weekly.

A few caveats:

• Every other week may be fine if you’re further along with a larger team, millions in revenue, more moving parts. (You will have other tools for internal alignment and communication.)

• Monthly or quarterly is a good cadence for sharing more detailed financial updates with your investors.

• Monthly or quarterly is perfectly fine for a general update (e.g. investors or other stakeholders you want to stay in touch with for the future).

The Weekly Update and these other updates ^^ are also different from your customer newsletter or a “general public” communication.

Yes, you’ll have certain info that’s shared across all communication types (Look at this customer testimonial! We have a new VP Sales! See you at this conference!) but don’t try to have one-update-that-rules-them-all. It’s messy and never hits the mark for anyone.

Tools & Examples

Need specific examples? Want a template to copy? Let me know and I’ll do another post!

I’ve seen founders use the following tools to send a regular update:

• Email client with a bcc “to” list

• Google Groups

• Paperstreet

• Cabal

• Email marketing tool (not as often though unless they are much further along)

Any Weekly Update fans out there? What do you think makes a great Weekly Update? What has been most helpful to you while building?