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Nine months ago (in June 2020) I published an article on the increase in value and communication of the startup Soccer Index. Football Index had to file for bankruptcy in March 2021. A total loss for me and all other investors. And this hurts me in terms of the amount: my portfolio loses around GBP 3,500 in value.

This case impressively shows how supposedly successful startups can unexpectedly become worthless.

In retrospect, it's again easy to point a finger at the poor communication I mentioned back in 2020: there was one indicator that already suggested that maybe things weren't as rosy as I wanted to believe. And indeed, from my point of view, the startup reports are one of the key indicators with which successful startups can be identified. While this is never a guarantee of success, it helps to only invest relevant amounts in startups that regularly and openly inform your investors about positive and negative developments. Full-blooded marketing language on the part of the founders is worthless here and should be regarded as non-existent reporting. Relevant are facts and figures on sales, profit (or reduction of losses), development of user and customer numbers, development of key figures such as customer acquisition costs and shopping basket size.

What is certain is that this was not my last loss, because startup investments are risky. It remains to be hoped that I and my fellow investors will continue to identify the really successful startups in good time and that high increases in the value of the winning companies will outweigh the losses in order to achieve a positive total return.