If we remove the commonplace behavior of human beings, many relationships would look absurd - the same way today's normalcy looks absurd to a caveman. Today, we are comfortable with a waiter asking you to pay your bill after a meal, a doctor listening to your heart, or getting into cars with strange people you met on the internet.

But having a VC investor is not very commonplace for most first-time founders - they feel it is intrusive, many exercises feel academic. Many things that an investor asks you to do - like demanding to be on your board, consent for certain matters, going through financials on a monthly basis! Wow! So much for an investor doing the diligence before getting on board! Why do you want to do the same thing again and again? Do you not trust founders?

As an investor, we know why we do certain things. But sadly, founders never got an explanation for the same.

Most information in the monthly MIS that an investor asks is to not be an adversary, but an ally! Your monthly financials give us a sense of how your narrative is turning into numbers. Your highlights tell us what made you happy and what turned out to be good. Your lowlights tell us what made you unhappy, and what are the things that you will most probably focus on in the coming months. Your initiatives show us how you are working towards your vision. Your hiring decisions tell us how much faith you have in the growth that is to come. Your requests tell us where we as investors need to pull up our socks and get our hands dirty!

But maybe, we can just tell founders "We know there is LOT on your plate as a founder, and we do not expect you to be able to look behind every corner. While your business is a bit different, our experience from other companies can probably help you at different points in time. At the same time, having a maker-checker can also help you pass on the burden to someone else for a while. Would you be okay sharing your monthly financials, highlights & lowlights of the month, your current initiatives, hiring plans, and any specific ask for us on the 10th of every month? We can sit on a call by the 17th of every month and I might have solutions to your requests by that time!"

Simple!

But as investors - it is far easier to say "Show me your damn financials!"

At Malpani Ventures, we take pride in working with founders very closely. We like to receive the monthly MIS by the 10th of every month. And at times we have been able to help founders craft better MIS that has helped showcase their business metrics better. Recently, we discovered that one of our companies forgot to add a revenue line item, and the EBITDA was showing an inflated cash burn! When founders wear multiple hats, it is very very easy to lose track of a row or a column on an excel sheet. To err is human. But we believe this is our value add.

From a founder's perspective, we view a monthly MIS as a way to make the investor do some of the work. Why should investors have all the fun? We love it when founders send an MIS with a list of specific asks from us! Please introduce us to XYZ. Can you help us hire a CMO? Can you please find a good marketing agency we can work with? Our budget is X lacs! All work and no play makes founders overworked. Sharing a monthly MIS is a carrot, in order to make the investors work a bit for their privileges.

But maybe only we think like this!