What LPs Actually Want to See in Your Quarterly Report

Most guides to LP reporting are written from the GP's perspective: here's what you should include, here's how to format it, here's when to send it. That's useful, but it misses a critical dimension — what do LPs actually want?

We've spent time talking with limited partners across the spectrum — family offices, fund of funds, endowments, and high-net-worth individuals who allocate to emerging managers. Their feedback is remarkably consistent, and in several areas, it diverges significantly from what most GPs prioritize.

Here's what LPs actually want to see in your quarterly report.

Honesty Over Polish

The single most consistent piece of feedback from LPs: they want honesty, not marketing.

GPs spend enormous energy polishing their quarterly reports. Beautiful formatting, carefully crafted language, optimistic framing of every portfolio update. LPs see through this instantly. They've read thousands of GP reports, and they can distinguish substance from spin in the first paragraph.

What LPs say:

"I'd rather get a plain text email with honest numbers than a beautifully designed PDF that buries bad news in vague language." — Family office allocator, $500M AUM

"The GPs I re-up with are the ones who call me when something goes wrong, not the ones who wait until the quarterly to mention it in a footnote." — Fund of funds partner

"If every portfolio company in your report is 'performing well,' I immediately lose trust. No portfolio is all winners. Tell me about the ones that are struggling and what you're doing about it."

What This Means in Practice

• - Don't bury bad news. If a portfolio company is struggling, address it directly and early in the company update. Explain what's happening, what your assessment is, and what actions you're taking or recommending
• - Use specific numbers. "Revenue is growing" is meaningless. "ARR grew from $1.2M to $1.8M, a 50% increase QoQ" is useful. "Revenue grew 50% but decelerated from 80% last quarter" is honest
• - Acknowledge uncertainty. If you're not sure about a valuation or a company's trajectory, say so. "We're monitoring closely" is more credible than an unwarranted confident assessment

Performance Data — Clear and Consistent

LPs want standardized performance metrics reported consistently every quarter. The specific metrics matter less than the consistency — they want to track changes over time.

The Minimum Data Set

Every quarterly report should include:

• - Total committed capital and capital called (percentage deployed)
• - Net Asset Value (NAV) and change from prior quarter
• - Gross and net TVPI (Total Value to Paid-In)
• - DPI (Distributions to Paid-In) — particularly important for more mature funds
• - RVPI (Residual Value to Paid-In)
• - Net IRR (if the fund has enough seasoning — typically 2+ years)
• - Management fee and expenses — year-to-date and since inception

What LPs say:

"I compare every GP against every other GP in my portfolio. If your metrics aren't standard, I can't compare, and that's frustrating." — Institutional allocator

"I want to see the same metrics in the same format every quarter. If you change your reporting format, explain why. Don't make me hunt for the numbers I need."

Valuation Methodology

LPs increasingly want transparency on how you're valuing portfolio companies, especially for early-stage funds where markups are largely subjective.

• - State your valuation methodology (cost basis, last round, comparable analysis, etc.) and apply it consistently
• - Flag any changes in methodology or significant mark-ups/mark-downs
• - Be conservative. LPs universally prefer conservative valuations that occasionally produce positive surprises over aggressive marks that occasionally require write-downs

Portfolio Company Detail — Depth Over Breadth

LPs don't want a one-line summary of each portfolio company. They want enough detail to form their own view of how each investment is performing.

What to Include for Each Company

• - Company name and brief description (every time — don't assume they remember)
• - Investment date and amount — context for how long you've held the position
• - Current metrics: Revenue, growth rate, burn, runway, headcount — whatever is relevant for the company's stage
• - Quarterly developments: What happened this quarter? Product milestones, customer wins, team changes, fundraising activity
• - GP assessment: Your honest evaluation of the company's trajectory. Is it meeting expectations? Exceeding? Underperforming?
• - Risks: What could go wrong? What are you watching?

What LPs say:

"I can get the pretty metrics from anyone. What I'm paying for with an emerging manager is your insight and judgment. Tell me what you think, not just what the numbers say." — Family office CIO

"The best GP reports I receive have a 'traffic light' system — green, yellow, red — for each portfolio company. I can scan the portfolio in 10 seconds and drill into the yellows and reds."

The Companies You'd Rather Not Talk About

Every portfolio has underperformers. How you report on them reveals more about your character as a GP than how you report on your winners.

• - Don't omit struggling companies from your report. LPs notice.
• - Explain what happened — market shift, execution issues, team problems
• - Share your plan — are you supporting a turnaround? Recommending a pivot? Preparing to write down?
• - Take responsibility where appropriate — "Our initial thesis on the market timing was off" builds more trust than blaming external factors

Deployment Pace and Strategy — Show Me the Plan

LPs want to understand your investment pace and strategy, especially during the deployment period (typically years 1-4 of a fund).

What to Include

• - Investments made this quarter: Brief thesis for each new investment
• - Deployment pace vs. plan: Are you ahead of, behind, or on schedule?
• - Pipeline quality: What are you seeing in the market? What's exciting?
• - Reserve strategy: How are you thinking about follow-on investments?
• - Dry powder remaining: How much capital is left to deploy?

What LPs say:

"Deployment pace is one of my biggest concerns with emerging managers. Too fast means they're not being selective. Too slow means they can't find deals or they're hesitant. I want to see a deliberate pace with good reasoning." — Fund of funds manager

"Tell me about the deals you passed on and why. That tells me more about your judgment than the deals you did."

Communication Beyond the Quarterly

LPs consistently say that the quarterly report should not be their only touchpoint with the GP. The best GP-LP relationships include:

Monthly Pulse Emails

A brief (3-5 paragraph) email with any material developments. Not a formal report — just a quick update. New investments, portfolio milestones, market observations. This takes 15 minutes to write and generates disproportionate goodwill.

Annual Meeting or Call

Most LPs expect an annual meeting — either in person at an annual LP meeting or via a dedicated call. This is an opportunity for deeper discussion that doesn't fit in a written report.

Ad Hoc Communication

Material events should be communicated immediately. Exits, significant write-downs, key personnel changes, or market events affecting your strategy. Don't wait for the quarterly to share time-sensitive news.

What LPs say:

"The GPs who send me a monthly email — even just a few paragraphs — are the ones I recommend to other allocators. It shows they're on top of things and they respect my interest in the fund."

"If I hear about a portfolio company exit from Twitter before I hear it from my GP, that's a problem."

Format and Delivery

Format Preferences

LPs are split on format. Some prefer polished PDF reports. Others prefer plain text emails with attached data tables. The consensus: substance over style.

• - PDF reports are better for archiving and forwarding to investment committees
• - Email summaries with linked data are better for quick scanning
• - The ideal is both: a summary email with the full PDF attached

Timing

• - Within 30 days of quarter end is excellent
• - Within 45 days is acceptable
• - Beyond 60 days is a negative signal

If your report will be delayed, send a brief email explaining why and providing an estimated delivery date. Communication about the delay is far better than silence.

Using Archstone for LP Reporting

Archstone's quarterly report builder is designed around exactly what LPs want. It pulls fund metrics, portfolio data, and deployment information from your single source of truth, structures it in a format that LPs expect, and distributes it with engagement tracking.

Archie can draft the entire report — you add the GP commentary, review for accuracy, and send. Open tracking shows you which LPs read it (and which didn't, so you can follow up).

The result: professional, consistent, honest reporting that builds the trust your LP relationships depend on. Every quarter, on time, without the 8-12 hours of manual assembly that most GPs endure.

Your quarterly report is your most important LP relationship tool. Build it around what LPs actually want — not what you think they want.