Helping VCs Keep Tabs On Their Investments

Once a venture capitalist provides funds — thousands or even millions of dollars — to a startup, the next step is a bit uncertain. Some investors take a hands-off approach to the companies in which they invest, while others join the board and help guide a startup through its next phase of growth.

Whatever direction the new partners take, VCs always want to keep tabs on the companies they fund and monitor their success to protect their investments.

[bctt tweet=”VCs always want to keep tabs on the companies they fund.”]

Supdate is a new platform launched by Duane Jackson — the founder of online accounting software firm KashFlow. With a vision for greater business finance visibility, Supdate provides venture capitalists with a digital dashboard of the performance of the startups they have supported.

“Since selling KashFlow, I’ve been a seed investor in a small number of startups,” said Jackson in a recent interview with TechCrunch, published Thursday (Oct. 1). “I was struck by how badly most of these businesses keep their seed investors updated on monthly progress. It’s either neglected entirely or done in a rather ad hoc fashion. I’ve spoken to other, more active investors, and they see the same problem.”

Supdate reduces the time it takes both for investors and for startups to get up to speed with each other. According to Jackson, the platform means small business owners don’t have to, for example, send a monthly email to investors or take mental notes of every important milestone the company has reached in the last four weeks.

“Then, a disproportionate amount of effort is required to make the update relevant for the reader,” he added. Supdate streamlines and unifies the type of data that startup owners are providing to their investors, making it easier for VCs to see progress while business owners can focus on future growth instead of taking the time to provide these updates manually.

Reports said startups can log in each month and fill in designated data points. The platform then automatically analyzes the information to provide a snapshot of trends, improvement and changes in the startup’s performance based on previous data entered.

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