The monthly update that keeps investors engaged, informed, and ready to help. Most founders either don’t send updates or send the wrong thing - here’s the format that actually works.
Three bullet points max. What happened this month, what's the headline number, and what you need. Investors skim - this is the only part some of them will read.
• MRR hit $12K (+18% MoM), closed 3 new enterprise pilots • Hired first senior engineer, shipping v2 of onboarding flow • Need: intros to heads of ops at Series A fintech companies
A clean table or list of 5–7 numbers that matter. Always include MoM change. Consistency builds trust - use the same metrics every month so investors can track trajectory.
MRR: $12,000 (+18% MoM) Active Users: 340 (+22% MoM) Churn: 3.1% (down from 4.2%) Burn Rate: $28K/mo Runway: 14 months NPS: 62
What went well. Be specific - name the customer, the deal size, the milestone. Vague wins ("good progress on product") signal you don't have real wins.
• Closed Acme Corp ($2,400/yr) - first enterprise deal, 3-week sales cycle • Featured in TechCrunch Startup Battlefield top 20 list • Reduced onboarding time from 12 min to 4 min (3x improvement)
What's hard right now. Being honest about problems builds more trust than pretending everything is perfect. Investors know startups are messy - they want to see you're aware and working on it.
• Enterprise sales cycle longer than expected (targeting 2 weeks, seeing 4–6) • Senior backend hire fell through - restarting search • Conversion from free → paid plateaued at 11%, testing new onboarding
What shipped, what's in progress, what's next. Keep it to 3–5 bullets. Founders who ship fast build investor confidence - show momentum.
Shipped: Slack integration, CSV export, team permissions In progress: API v2, custom dashboards Next up: Mobile app (beta), Salesforce connector
The most important section for you. Be specific about what you need - intros, hires, advice. Generic asks ("let me know if you can help") get ignored. Specific asks get action.
1. Intro to VP of Ops at Stripe or Ramp (for enterprise pilot) 2. Referrals for senior fullstack engineers (React + Node) 3. Advice on enterprise pricing - considering usage-based vs seat-based
Keep it scannable. Investors get hundreds of emails - a clear subject line means yours actually gets opened.