In the Q1 2022 edition of our newsletter, we will present more positive customer feedback, and will share our media picks on two very important topics – how SPACs work and what new angel investors should keep in mind to get a good start in the business. We will also provide useful tips on how to set up club entities on Monetryx and make the most out of them, will take a deeper dive into communication strategies for startups, and will explain how Monetryx can help in these efforts. Finally, we’ll share some exciting Monetryx corporate news.
We hope you enjoy our first quarterly newsletter for 2022.
Client Feedback
George Kremenliev
CEO
A4E
"I love the way the Monetryx News Center interface works and its integration with the rest of the platform. I can manage all my investor communications activities from the same place. I have this vision of providing solutions for potential investors at every stage of their journey with my startup and then offering the next natural step along the way. I feel I can do all of this through Monetryx."
Q1 Media Picks
How SPACs Work
https://www.pwc.com/
SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) have enjoyed a tremendous growth in popularity in the last few years. They provide a shortcut to the complex process of becoming a public company, and can be a great way for the right management team to raise and deploy funds. But how exactly does it work? The experts at PwC present a great overview with their usual methodical and clear way of describing complex issues. Founders need to start thinking about the end game early on. Many may think that SPACs are somewhat exotic or an unlikely way to monetize one’s company, but many may be surprised how actionable this option really is. Find the right Service Providers on Monetryx that specialize in investment banking and IPOs (Tip: type SPAC in the keyword box or apply filters in your search). Perhaps your company should look into it too.
Angel Investing Basics
https://www.youtube.com/
Romi Dhillon is a well-known investor. In this video, he explains his process and gives priceless advice to less experienced angel investors. How do you get started? How to find the right deals? How to go about researching companies and interacting with their founders? These are all great questions, and Romi provides thoughtful answers to them. Towards the end he talks about saying “maybe” to founders and following closely what they achieve after that. We are glad that we have the tools on Monetryx to facilitate company updates and manage news flow (see our Discussion Topic below). He also recommends narrowing one’s focus when going online to look for specific deal flow. We offer the ability to customize your searches on Monetryx, so that you can find the right opportunity on the platform. Regardless of your level of experience or whether you are an entrepreneur or an investor, Romi will give you a lot of food for thought and some genuine, good advice. Enjoy!
Tip of The Month
Setting Up Clubs on Monetryx
Did you know that as an individual Monetryx user you can search for clubs to join on the platform or set up your own club?
While some investors and advisors prefer to work independently, many others would rather find like-minded peers, and team up with them in shared interest groups. Users on Monetryx have different skills and experiences, and often find that researching companies, performing due diligence or simply exchanging ideas works better in a team setting. Joining an existing club may be a great way to broaden one’s network and access new opportunities, while setting up own club could be ideal for those looking to pitch investment ideas, attract co-investors or lead research teams.
So how does it work on Monetryx? Individual users can access the Club interface through RESEARCH & INVEST in the main menu. From there, one can search for existing clubs, manage their current membership or set up their own clubs (Note: users can run several clubs at a time). Creating a new entity is straightforward and requires only a quick registration and a description to convey the right message and attract potential members. Once created, new clubs are ready to accept requests to join and approve or reject new members. All the processes related to membership are done through CLUB in the main menu or through various shortcuts in Home Screen.
To invite new members, a club administrator can either SEND INVITES through email (in CLUB -> Profile -> Club Members) or find other Monetryx users and contact them on the platform with instructions how to find their club to join or with a URL link to the club in the body of the message. Club administrators can then initiate discussions with all or selected members, schedule and run events, as well as provide club updates or share news. These are handled through COMMUNICATIONS in the main menu.
To join an existing club, a user should simply run a search, find what they are looking for, and check the Join box in the club’s profile.
Ready to give it a try? Let us know if you have any questions.
Discussion Topic
Keeping Investors and Other Stakeholders Informed
Keeping current and potential investors well informed about a company’s activities should be a major objective for the company’s founders. Many experts point out the importance of having a clear communication plan and staying in touch (here, here). While it may be obvious that uninformed current investors are rarely happy investors, and that trust and confidence with potential investors are built through communicating clear goals and then achieving them, what is often lost in the shuffle is that it’s not only investors who should be kept informed. Startups have lots of other stakeholders who may not be writing big checks but are essential to the success of the venture over time. Co-founders, employees, advisors, mentors, and even service providers are important for the success of the venture, and keeping them in the loop on what matters to them matters in ensuring that they contribute their best.
So, what is the best way to communicate relevant information with the stakeholders? Well, it depends on many things, including the stage of the company, its ownership structure, strategy, key employees, etc. However, there are best practices that savvy founders should consider implementing. Unless there is a really compelling secrecy argument (those are very rare) for not disclosing Key Performance indicators (KPIs), then a regular update on important metrics makes sense. It goes a long way towards creating confidence and predictability, both of which are key in reducing the risk perception of the venture. It is up to the management to decide what KPIs to use, but it is important to select those that actually tell a meaningful story about the progress of the firm. KPI sharing could be somewhat informal and would ideally be frequent in nature.
Important company news should also be shared with relevant stakeholders in a timely manner. Sharing that a key employee left, or an important customer cancelled their contract may not be pleasant, but it is much preferrable to having to explain way after the fact that it happened, and you somehow forgot to mention it. It comes down to trust.
More formal regular updates should also be considered, such as quarterly updates with financials, monthly newsletters, and annual reports with detailed analysis of the company’s operations. It is best to stick to a regular and predictable pattern. Remember: for most investors lack of news implies bad news, so skipping a report may make sense from a time management perspective but may create undesirable anxiety. So, even lack of communication is best to be communicated properly.
To complicate matters further, there is a fine line between keeping stakeholders informed, and providing them with too much or too frequent information that is difficult to follow and is commonly referred to as “spam”. Mass emails with “potentially relevant” news may dilute the company’s message and be counterproductive as a result.
Monetryx recognizes the communication challenges facing founders. We have created a number of tools that allow flexibility and a targeted approach that addresses many of the challenges discussed above. Please check out our newsletter interface in COMMUNICATIONS -> News and Events -> News Center in the main menu. It lets users compose a newsletter and address it to the relevant group of stakeholders. The interface allows creating the content on the spot or uploading it in text or HTML format from elsewhere. It also provides for creating new groups of recipients, formatting and scheduling release. Newsletters can be added to a company’s profile page to aid the firm’s presentation. To do this, please go to COMPANY -> Preferences and select Visibility on the right. .
While newsletters, periodic reports and major news releases are all suitable for release as special announcements, there is also high frequency data, like monthly KPIs, that could be more impactful when posted on a regular basis at the right place instead of being sent as emails cluttering inboxes. A company’s Business Profile has a special tab called KPIs that can be configured and updated in DATA ROOM -> Custom Data -> Performance Indicators. The tab could be made visible or stay hidden. To toggle between the two, use Visibility in Preferences, as described in Newsletters above.
Finally, the list of potential recipients, like all other people-related lists on the platform, can be managed in COMPANY -> People.
Using Monetryx to set up and implement a communication strategy will help entrepreneurs stay organized. It will also ensure that their content stays safe, accessible to the rights users, and integrated with the company’s Data Room, Communications tools and all other relevant platform features.
Monetryx News
We are happy to announce that Monetryx and the Private Directors Association (PDA) San Francisco Chapter have entered into a collaboration agreement. The PDA is the only national association dedicated to improving private companies’ growth and sustainability through governance that adds value. With more than 3,000 members, The Private Directors Association represents a diverse and highly experienced community of executive leaders, including current and qualified future board members, private company owners, C-level executives of family-owned businesses, ESOPs, private equity-backed companies, and early-stage ventures.
We believe that our collaboration with the PDA San Francisco will provide additional resources to our clients and will further enrich our growing community. We look forward to offering new opportunities to get involved to all the highly accomplished professionals at the PDA San Francisco, and welcome them as potential mentors, advisors, directors and investors to our startup clients. We also look forward to working with the organization’s leadership in providing solutions for their processes and administrative tasks.
For more information on the Private Directors Association, please click here.
