Founder FAQs: What should I include in a monthly investor update email?

The Founder FAQ

Earlier this week, we answered why you should write a monthly investor update email.

Today we will answer the two follow-up questions:

TechTO's Answer

The way to accomplish this is to draft an email and then review and rewrite it to be more clear and more concise. It also helps to structure the update in an easy-to-digest format with clear section headings and images/video embeds when appropriate.

We are not a huge fan of graphs as they can be difficult to read on a mobile device and often don't publish consistently across email clients.

The format and what you include will change over time as your company matures and your investors provide feedback. The following sections are ones we see frequently in updates, and we believe you should include the ones that are appropriate for your startup.

Overview of the last month:

• Two to three lines on the progress, setbacks, and main takeaways from the past month.

• KPIs: The goal of the section is to provide a numeric overview of the progress and health of your startup. This should be no more than three to four metrics. Each metric should show the current number, how this changed from the previous month, and the difference between the number and the projected number.

The metrics may change over time but they generally include the following:

• True North Metric: Every startup should have one metric that they are using to measure progress. This should be the first one displayed.

• Revenue/revenue run rate: If this is not your True North Metric you should include the revenue or another relevant number if you are pre-revenue.

• Runway: How many months cash do you have left in the business?

For each of the metrics above, you may want to provide a couple of additional bullet points to remind investors on how you calculate the metric and what is included in them.

Is revenue shown on an accrual or cash basis? What is and is not included in revenue? What assumptions are in the runway? Is runway just current cash position divided by monthly burn or does it assume changes in either due to revenue growth?

Learnings since the last update:

Some additional things to include: Two to three bullet paragraphs in simple language on what the team has learned about their business since the last month.

This shows the nonquantitative progress you have made since last month.

Victories and challenges:

Victories are any accomplishments that you want to share with investors. It could be large client wins, hires, or media coverage.

Challenges are items that is keeping the team up at night. They can range from short-term specific issues (e.g. we are having trouble filling the UX position) to long-term macro issues (e.g. the real estate market appears to soften which may soften the demand for our product).

What's next?

List the priorities for the team over the next month.

Asks:

Include a list of very explicit asks from your investors.

Asks typically include asks for introductions to customers, hires, investors, and journalists. They can even include asks for further advice or insights.

Shoutouts:

Social proof that investors are helping with your asks/encouragement for all investors to help.

This section recognizes two to three investors who helped you out over the past month. The shoutout should include the investor's name, the fund (if applicable), and what they helped you on.

Who should I send the update to?

You should have two distribution lists and versions of your monthly email.

The first list should be your current investors and advisors. They should get the entire list.

The second list would include potential investors and they may get a shorter version of your update without sensitive information included.

Expert Recommendations

We took to social and our networks to gather additional expert feedback. Here are the key points we found:

Tejas Shah - Investor

What should be shared in an email?

1. Traction. The Good and the Bad. Sometimes Investors will offer some great solutions if you have a roadblock.

2. Milestones achieved or on the horizon

3. Further product updates

Abraham Thomas - Founder of quandl and Angel Investor

Abraham shared a helpful article on the art of Investor Updates >> READ HERE

Braedon Hebert - Co-Founder of condoworks.co, and early-stage tech CFO consultant

We use the structure:

Metrics / What went well / What didn't / Further help requests.

There are also two helpful docs I've often referenced and shared with others:

1. Great templates and examples for startups >> CHECK THEM OUT HERE

2. 10 hacks for happier investors >> READ HERE

Examples and Related Posts

More Templates to gain some inspiration:

More Investor Update Email Templates

Investor Update Templates

A "how-to" guide on your entire email:

How to write the perfect investor update

*Reply to this email and share your FAQs with us. You may see them answered in a future newsletter*

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