If you're like many of today's angel and venture funded companies, you are doing more with less and your team is distributed hither and yon. Your programmers are in India, your test team in Guatemala, and your sales force in 5 cities across the U.S. Even your management team is spread between Portland, San Francisco and Seattle.
You are certainly saving on office expenses and utilizing the most talented and cost effective resources, but how do you keep your team on the same page? How do you lead a distributed workforce and provide transparency within and between teams?
Technology solutions have certainly enabled organizations with distributed teams to work in new and wonderful ways. Just being able to see the person you're talking to, face-to-face, on Skype is a huge advantage -- as long as you remembered to get fully dressed that morning, of course. In fact, a morning (for the local timezone) video conference will ensure that everyone is up early, dressed, and ready to roll. There are plenty who will disagree, but I believe that working in pajamas or sweat pants is not a productivity enhancer.
Other tools like AceProject, SimplyPM, and Smartsheet can help track task lists and keep everyone on the same page with respect to activities and deadlines. Choose one and create a process that encourages its use. There is nothing worse than wondering if the email you sent describing that Big Bad Bug is being worked on, much less even received.
However, with distributed teams, one of the key issues is gathering the "soft content", the stuff that is in your team member's heads. Things like critical issues, input or help required to complete a job, action items -- the stuff that usually gets discussed around the water cooler, passing in the hallway, or documented in an all-team meeting.
At Informia, we've been using our own collaborative reporting software, OrgUpdate, to communicate among our own distributed team. Everyone is a contributor for their domain and everyone is a stakeholder. Update reminders get sent out on a set schedule before an update is due then everyone logs in and answers a few easy questions customized to their domain. After a quick management review, the report is automatically formatted and posted to our stakeholder portal for everyone to see.
There's nothing like eating your own dogfood.
For more on collaborative reporting for organizations visit http://www.informia.com/solutions/organizations/
Today's stakeholders are demanding increased transparency in to their investments, partnerships, organizations, and projects. They want to know sooner, and with a greater depth of understanding, how things are going and how they might be able to contribute to the success of the venture -- or at least help avoid disastrous failures. This results in an increased flow of information between organizations and their constituents, creating the unintended consequence of content overload.
Unfortunately, the most common way of disseminating stakeholder information is through the ubiquitious email message. As we know all too well, email is by nature unfiltered, disorganized, and without context. Nearly everyone complains about being overwhelmed by the amount of new information they are forced to sift through and absorb on a daily basis. But it just keeps coming... and coming... and coming.
When does this form of communication do more harm than good? I know I spend a good part of every day trying to reduce my email list to under a page. My daily goal is to make sure I have "no scrollbar" before turning in for the night. That makes for some late nights and more than a little chagrin when I wake up to a whole new slew to deal with.
What slows me down most are the emails that I have to do something with. You know, create a new file to save an attachment to, read and comment on a lengthy report, analyze a complicated spreadsheet. These are the items that tend to get stuck in the inbox, clogging up the process and causing undue stress and frustration. Not to mention those late nights.
While working on several projects at once has become a workplace standard, experts now say that multi-tasking actually takes longer than doing things one at a time. And the email inbox is the ultimate mutli-tasking environment. Rather than focusing on one domain or task, we jump from topic to topic, losing efficiency every time we make the switch.
In my opinion, we are going to see more demand for the delivery and dissemination of domain-specific information through collaboration software and web portals. This way, they need only deal with one email a day or week, directing them to the site where they can collaborate with fellow stakeholders and view messages, updates, and documents that are specific to the endeavor. If they feel the need to download it, they can do so, but otherwise, everything is stored safely and securely in one place. It is all in context and organized for easy retreival when needed. The result is a virtual work-room, specific to the topic at hand, potentially reducing 10 emails to one. Who wouldn't appreciate that? Your nonprofit donors, angel investors, limited partners, board of directors, consulting clients, and distributed teams, that's who.
For more information on an easy and cost-effective way to implement best practices for stakeholder reporting, check out Informia's Stakeholder Portal Solution.
Some interesting results came to light through a survey conducted by investment firm SEI: Investors Demand Greater Transparency, Communications Fro
m Private Equity Managers. It turns out investors across industries (but especially in the private equity sector) are expecting increasing levels of transparency from the firms and projects they're investing in.
The survey includes more than 50 organizations, some of which claim assets of up to US$20 billion. The majority of those polled were enthusiastic about private equity, stating that they felt it was a worthwhile endeavor even when the market slumps. The survey was performed in response to the wide-spread downturn in private equity and venture capital fundraising.
More than half of those polled cited liquidity risk and poor performance as their major concerns. While these concerns have been around for as long as the art of investing, some of the other concerns show that investors are increasingly of a new breed. Private equity firms have to evolve along with them or else they risk becoming obsolete.
These concerns include the clarity of the investment philosophy, level of niche expertise the company firm has, quality of communication, portfolio transparency and quality of reporting.
What does this mean for the private equity sector?
Apparently, investors think their commitment to the company should translate into behind-the-scenes access. And when company leaders take a step back and consider this prospect, they're more and more likely to agree.
This survey is an invaluable resource for private equity firms. It demonstrates just how far the investment world has come from the old closed-door model that used to rule the scene. As it turns out, stakeholders are craving an inside look at holdings and reports as well as the valuation and investment processes.
SEI states that "private equity managers who standardize and institutionalize transparency practices will be most likely to retain and capture assets because they will create efficiencies while delivering a more consistent and enhanced client experience." Stakeholder portals and open stakeholder communications will certainly be strong players in this evolving marketplace.
This shifting paradigm is a call for a new brand of visionary thought leadership that can carry the private equity sector into the future for private equity investing. Those that catch on quickly and deliver what today's investors are looking for, will be rewarded with loyal, patient limited partners. Those that don't will certainly face an uncertain future -- at least according to this report.
For a streamlined method of private equity reporting visit Informia Solutions-Private Equity.
Is anyone else wondering how much more content we can post out on the web? Is there a point where we simply become immune to its effects and no tweet, post, digg, update, or tube, can garner our attention? Will the value of the system collapse under its own weight?
Social media marketing pundits tout the importance of blogging, tweeting, commenting, and creating content in order to drive traffic to websites, build relationships and ultimately drive revenue. The reality is, for now, it seems to work. Google and Bing search ratings go up, traffic increases, a social network and online presence is developed.
But, at some level, is social media a Ponzi scheme?
According to Wikipedia, "A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent....the system is destined to collapse because the earnings, if any, are less than the payments to investors"
Is there a point where the social media network collapses because the returns become less than the cost to the participants? As with a Ponzi scheme, the first participants receive the largest rewards, and the last-in stand to lose it all.
OK, I know that there is nothing as dire as that happening in social media -- personal fortunes are not lost. But there are times when I envision the world wide web becoming a super sized Wallmart, just filled with content for the sake of content. How much is truly useful, necessary, and actually read? (How many will read this post?) Are comments made to the posts because the commentator is truly interested? Or, is it just another way to get exposure and grow their social media currency?
There are certainly many business owners who spend more time feeding their blogs than talking to customers or propects. More time building their Linkedin network than communicating with stakeholders. More time tweeting and retweeting than creating a product roadmap. And, more time finding conversations to weigh-in on, than interracting with their team. It just feels so productive.
So, the content bloat continues, present company included.
Just don't be the last one in.
For what I'm doing when I'm not thinking about social media overload, check out Informia's collaborative reporting and stakeholder portal solutions at www.informia.com.
Finally, if you like this post, please submit using the buttons at the top. It is social media marketing after all.
As volatile as the real estate investment market has been recently, it's more 
important than ever for firms to stay in constant contact with their investors and end-clients. This holds for investment pools, one-off projects and real estate investment funds.
For many of the big real estate investment firms, one of the biggest problems is a lack of process around communications and transparency. Companies are happy to share the good news with their investors, but they're naturally afraid that bad news will quell confidence and scare off future investments.
This is why some of the leading innovators in the real estate sector have stepped in and shake things up a bit. Today's thought leaders have advocated unprecedented transparency. They're doing this for three major reasons:
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Secrets are harder to keep than ever before, largely because the internet has everyone so interconnected that it's nearly impossible to keep anything out of the public realm.
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Transparency promotes confidence. When a stakeholder truly feels that the company values their investment enough to keep them abreast of everything happening behind the scenes, they're more likely to stay with the company and even invest more heavily.
- Admitting shortcomings makes a company more likable. Test this in smaller areas first. Don't parade the company's problems, but by all means let investors know what's holding the company or their investments back back.
This sort of openness between firms, investors and potential customers makes it easier to do damage control when a problem comes up. Investors will find that they have time, interest and genuine concern invested in the company rather than just their hard-earned money. Real estate partnership reporting and stakeholder reporting solutions give investors a chance to weigh in on what's happening and possibly provide insights or contacts that can help a flailing investment.
Embracing a culture of investor transparency is central to coping with the current commercial and residential real estate slump. It keeps capital flowing at a time when stakeholders are finding it hard to remain optimistic -- and even harder to respond positively to capital calls on struggling projects.
For ways to make communicating with investors a nearly effortless process, look at Informia's collaborative reporting solutions for real estate investment groups and projects.
When I talk to angel investors, the most common complaint I hear is that the CEO’s of the companies they invest in do not provide regular status reports. And most provide no formal reports at all, even though they have a moral, legal, and fiduciary responsibility to do so.
The question is, why? Is it their intent to mislead? Are they lazy? Are they hiding something?
I don’t think it is any of those things. Having had the opportunity to sit on both sides of the table, as a CEO of a privately funded company and later, as an angel investor, I would boil it down to four main issues:
1. Waiting for good news. For most companies, the good news is just another day or another week away. And even when some good news finally arrives, there is some even better news another day or another week away. So (thinks the CEO) why not wait and send the report when you can announce the new customer, the product release, and the astounding financial performance all at once? The problem is, the stars usually do not align that way and that perfect reporting moment never seems to arrive.
2. Afraid to report bad news. Every angel investor knows that companies are going to miss the targets now and then. Probably more now than then. But CEO’s have a terrible time reporting even the most obvious of their foibles. But investors know that everyone makes mistakes, plans change, markets change, and the key is being able to react and redirect energy if necessary. And, in many cases, the investors may have the knowledge or key contact that could make the difference. If investors don’t know what’s wrong, they can’t help.
3. It is just too hard. Unless the company is a very small enterprise, most CEO’s have to gather information from multiple team members in order to compile and investor report. This involves multiple requests of people who are already stretched too thin, especially as companies are forced to do less with more. So, after attempting to bird-dog status out of team members, the CEO decides to write it herself. So what started as a thorough report from across departments becomes a midnight musing of high level information. Or, more often, the months go by and nothing is written.
4. Time goes by. The worst thing about being the CEO of a company is that time seems to go by at warp speed. Every time you wake up it seems to be Friday again. Or Monday, depending on your perspective. And, weekends are when you do all the things you can’t do Monday through Friday. So the CEO says to herself, I will get that report out on Friday. Then all the sudden it is the next Friday. After months of Fridays, the task just becomes too daunting to even deal with. And a little embarrassing too. What does one say after months of no communication? Where to start?
If entrepreneurs want their stakeholders to be there through thick and thin, then they must provide investors with consistent, meaningful, quality updates. When things are difficult, everyone needs to pull together to ensure the best opportunity for success. And the best way for that to happen: communicate.
To download free sample investor reports visit Informia's sample reports page.
Line up the executives of ten nonprofit organizations and ask them to name the single greatest challenge unique to their industry. Nine out of ten are going to say something along the lines of "retaining our donor base."
In all honesty, it's probably more like ten out of ten. This is a serious issue for nonprofits organizations around the world, especially given our global economic crisis.
To be fair, a few of those executives might have cited attracting nonprofit donors as their number-one obstacle. And while that may be the most pressing concern for a nonprofit that's just starting out, it's bound to be replaced by an even greater need to nurture repeat donors.
With that in mind, nonprofits are hard-pressed to come up with ever more creative solutions that encourage past donors to go another round with the organizaiton. It's the only way to remain solvent in today's highly competitive market.
Why don't donors come back?
The answers to this question are obviously complicated. Maybe they lost sight of the nonprofit's vision or perhaps their enthusiasm was short-lived. Maybe they fell on hard financial times and had to make cuts. Regardless of a particular donor's reasons, nonprofits can improve donor confidence by pushing the boundaries of transparency.
Anyone investing his or her own money into an outside venture is in an awkward position. The money is theirs, but the venture isn't. And in many cases, they aren't provided access to what's going on behind the organization's front office or glowing marketing newsletters. This is especially of concern to nonprofit donors who certainly aren't investing with the hope of monetary gain. For donors, the only return on their investment is affecting lives and causes.
That's why it's so important for nonprofits to give donors behind-the-scenes style access to the work they're doing. By interacting with donors and keeping them updated, the nonprofit is essentially enhancing that donor's stake in the cause. Improving transparency with regular updates, donor portal solutions and generally just treating major donors like investors in your organizaiton will lead to better donor retention.
With donor retention under control, the organization now has more time to focus on the important business of improving the world.
So...you need additional angel or venture funding.
In the current economic climate, more companies have to hold on longer, and spend even more carefully, to survive until things improve. And, they will improve. They will improve...they will improve...they will improve. Repeat three times, three times a day and I'm sure our cosmic energy will combine to make it so.
In the meantime, if you find you need more investor funding to keep your promising enterprise going, where is the first place you should turn? Your existing angel or venture investors, of course. They have numerous reasons to invest in a follow-on round and there are many reasons that it is beneficial to you as well. The most obvious for both parties, is that you already know each other. Hopefully it will be unnecessary to re-familiarize your investors with your company. You've been providing quality, detailed, cross-functional investor updates on a regular basis right?
Well, let's assume so.
In that case, you should have no trouble convincing your existing private investors to continue forward with you. And, they may be happy to bring in their partners, colleagues, and friends as well. To share the wealth, so to speak. And since you have tracked nicely against your development plans, communicated when there have been bumps in the road (like those sales numbers that are hard to hit right now), made the key hires you promised, and continue to provide detailed financial analysis, they are eager to keep you afloat while the economy improves.
Now, let's assume not.
What if you haven't done a good job of reporting and still need your investors' support in a second or third round of funding? Well, at this point, the only thing you can do is go to them, hat in hand, and explain to them how you're going to do better.
Better yet, show them how you will do better. Show them that you understand what stakeholder transparency is all about.
Even if you haven't reported in months, quarters, or even years, it's never too late to start. And, I'm not talking about what I call the private company CEO's "midnight missive", but a thorough, professionally produced, cross-organizational report. And, don't do it tomorrow. Do it now. Just do it.
Then show them how you will do this on a defined and predictable schedule. Demonstrate this through your actions, not your promises. Show them that you are using a tool like InvestorUpdate that will keep you on track, gather input from your team, and ensure that the reports get done and get done well.
Cost of not reporting: Hundreds of hours spent trying to raise money from new equity investors or, worse, the wind-down of your business.
Raising more money from your private equity investors and advancing your vision: Priceless!
To see sample reports for privately funded companies visit Informia Sample Reports page.
After focusing on investor reporting for privately funded companies and Pr
ivate Equity firms, Informia has moved to a broader market that touches a wider audience: Stakeholder Reporting.
Who are stakeholders? Anyone who has a stake in the outcome of an organization, company, venture, or team.
Or, a more complete definition is:
Any individual, group or business with a vested interest (a stake) in the success of an organization is considered to be a stakeholder. A stakeholder is typically concerned with an organization delivering intended results and meeting its financial objectives. In general, a stakeholder can be one of two types: internal (from within an organization) or external (outside of an organization). Examples of a stakeholder are an owner, manager, shareholder, investor, employee, customer, partner and/or supplier, among others (Wikipedia).
Why have we morphed from investor focused reporting to the broader market of stakeholder reporting? A broader market and more opportunity to serve a wide variety of industries and customers.
Watch us go!
Following up on What Investors Want to Know - Part 1, here are some specific and practical tips on what to include, by category, in your next investor status report.
Finances. How is the company tracking against the financial plan? Stakeholders don't want to wade through pages of spreadsheets. Just the highlights and lowlights: budget, actual, projected values -- on all the basic data. Sales, expenses, cash on hand, receivables, whatever is most relevant for your business. Of course, you missed some numbers and did better than planned on others. It's normal, expected, and they just want to know. And they want to know that you're on top of it.
Reports By Function. What are some of the accomplishments and challenges of individual departments in the company? They don't want to just hear from the CEO or CFO, but also from VP's, department managers, outside providers, or anyone who has a significant impact on the company's progress and performance. It doesn't have to be long, detailed, or complicated. Just a few paragraphs each, highlighting the good, the challenges, and the plans for the next reporting period. Of course, it is sometimes scary to state new objectives as you have then created new targets that you could also miss. But, hey, that's normal and expected. They just want to know that you and your team are planning ahead and thinking about what comes next.
Investor Input. How can the investor group be helpful? Your investors have every reason to be supportive of your ongoing progress and success. Most are eager to help but they have to know what kind of help you need. Don't be afraid to show some of your "soft" spots by reaching out for referrals, introductions, advice, or anything else that your wise and talented investor group can provide. Soft spots are normal and expected. They just want to know that you know how and when to ask for help.
External Factors. What are some of things happening that are not your fault? Did your biggest customer just file chapter 11? Did the downturn in the economy cause you to miss or cut your revenue projections? Did a new regulation have a negative impact on your development plans?
Your investors backed you based on your talent, team, and ideas, full-well knowing that not every enterprise succeeds. If you've done a good job telling them what they want to know, you might find them eager to invest in your next venture, even if this one fails. 
To see sample investor reports visit Informia sample reports page and download one today.