What Belongs in a Private Firm LP Letter

Limited partners rarely need every ledger line in the opening pages. They need to know whether capital was called or returned, how NAV moved, and which holdings drove the change.

Start with a one-page capital summary: beginning NAV, contributions, distributions, income or expense adjustments, and ending NAV. Keep footnotes short and point to schedules rather than repeating them in prose.

Portfolio commentary works best when each company gets a fixed structure: thesis reminder, recent operating note, valuation method, and any material risk. Uniform structure makes partner meetings faster because everyone knows where to look.

Reserve the appendix for detailed waterfall tables, fee calculations, and side-letter notes. Those pages matter for diligence, but they should not interrupt the narrative of the letter itself.

Before you send, have someone who did not prepare the pack read only the first three pages aloud. If they cannot state the quarter’s capital story in two sentences, the letter still needs trimming.