Portfolio Monitoring

How to actually track a portfolio of private positions over time, what to ask for, how often, and what a real warning sign looks like versus normal noise.

What happens after the money is wired

Lessons

• Ask for a few numbers on a steady rhythm, not everything whenever you remember — Good monitoring of private positions rests on a consistent update, at a cadence matched to stage and position size, covering the handful of numbers that actually signal health. (10 min)
• The most important line in an update is often the one that is missing — Founders naturally lead with good news. Reading an update well means comparing it with last period, noticing which figures disappeared and separating real warning signs from normal early-stage noise. (11 min)
• Cash and runway decide whether anything else gets the chance to matter — Runway - cash divided by net burn - is the single most important monitoring figure for an early company, because running out of money ends every other possibility. Fundraising time makes the real deadline earlier than it looks. (11 min)
• A paper gain is a price someone paid once, not money you have — Private positions are usually marked at the last round price, adjusted for dilution. That mark is an estimate that can lag reality, and only a sale or distribution turns it into cash. (10 min)
• Look at the whole portfolio, not just each company — Reviewing positions one at a time hides concentration by sector, stage, vintage and business model. A periodic portfolio-level view shows exposures no single company report reveals. (11 min)
• Deciding a position is worth nothing is a decision, and it should be made explicitly — Companies rarely announce their own failure clearly. Setting criteria for writing a position to zero keeps records honest and stops dead holdings from consuming attention. (10 min)

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