Why founders need to over-communicate with funders – and how to do this painlessly

This is a useful Investor Update Template (Monthly / Quarterly)

1️⃣ ONE-LINE STATUS (TL;DR FOR BUSY INVESTORS)

Status: On track / Needs attention / At risk

(Choose one — don’t hedge)

Example:
Status: On track, but cash runway tightening.


2️⃣ HIGHLIGHTS (WHAT WENT RIGHT)

Keep it short.
Bullet points only.

Example:

✅ Closed enterprise pilot with XYZ Hospital
✅ Revenue up 18% MoM
✅ Two key hires onboarded
✅ Reduced CAC by 22%
✅ Feature release completed


3️⃣ METRICS THAT MATTER (THE NUMBERS)

Keep it consistent every month.

MetricThis PeriodLast Period
MRR₹_______₹_______
Growth Rate___%___%
Burn Rate₹_______₹_______
Runway___ months___ months
Gross Margin___%___%
Paid Customers______
Churn___%___%

4️⃣ LOWLIGHTS (TELL BAD NEWS EARLY)

Silence destroys trust.
Transparency builds it.

Example:

⚠️ Lost one major client (pricing-related)
⚠️ Product release delayed by 2 weeks
⚠️ Hiring for sales role taking longer
⚠️ Support load higher than expected


5️⃣ KEY DECISIONS MADE (SHOW LEADERSHIP)

Example:

🔹 Paused paid ads for 30 days
🔹 Prioritised retention over acquisition
🔹 Delayed office expansion
🔹 Cut discretionary spend by 15%


6️⃣ EXPERIMENTS & LEARNINGS

Investors love evidence.

Example:

🧪 Referral pilot resulted in 3x conversion
🧪 Price increase had zero churn impact
🧪 LinkedIn outreach outperformed Google Ads
🧪 Enterprise onboarding flow simplified


7️⃣ RISKS & MITIGATION

Show that you see the landmines.

Example:

🚨 Cash tight in 90 days
🛠️ Mitigation: Tightened hiring + payment collection push

🚨 Customer concentration risk
🛠️ Mitigation: Diversifying pipeline aggressively


8️⃣ HELP REQUIRED (DON’T BE SHY)

Be specific.

✅ Warm intro to finance leaders
✅ Help hiring a senior engineer
✅ Feedback on pricing strategy
✅ Advice on expansion geography

No vague “any connects welcome” nonsense.


9️⃣ NEXT MONTH’S PLAN

Tell them where you are headed.

Example:

🎯 Close 3 new enterprise contracts
🎯 Launch V2 product version
🎯 Improve onboarding journey
🎯 Break-even target: Q4


🔟 CLOSING (HUMAN BUT PROFESSIONAL)

Example:

Thanks for continuing to support us — feel free to reply directly if you’d like to dig into any area.

Best,
[Founder Name]
[Company Name]


💣 RULES FOR GREAT INVESTOR UPDATES

✅ Send regularly

✅ Be honest

✅ Keep it short

✅ Standardise format

✅ Show thinking

✅ Invite involvement

✅ Admit mistakes

✅ Own decisions


🚫 WHAT NOT TO DO

❌ Write essays
❌ Hide bad news
❌ Cherry-pick numbers
❌ Overpromise
❌ Use jargon
❌ Pretend all is well
❌ Emotionally dump


✅ THE GOLDEN RULE

Investor updates are not PR.

They are a trust deposit.

Make them monthly.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top