A few years ago I wrote a blog about how important it is to keep your investors updated. That is as true today as it was then, but I want to highlight another benefit that I neglected to point out then: the process.

For the founder, the process of putting together the investor update may be the most beneficial outcome of the entire exercise.

In order to send out a monthly investor update, a founder needs to:

1. Be accountable to a deadline
2. Prioritize investors and the time needed to construct the update
3. Track important data and metrics
4. Synthesize the data and analyze the metrics
5. (From time to time) send out bad news
6. Solicit feedback

From what I’ve seen, each step in the process ends up having a ripple effect on other parts of the business. Whether it’s better understanding your metrics or building in a system of goals and accountability, you’ll see that delivering the actual investor update is a by-product of building a healthier startup.