The Best Monthly Investor Update Template for First-Time Founders

Listen up, Founders. I'm going to detail the best template to use to update your investors on a monthly basis.

As a Founder myself, an investor in startups, and a champion of Founders everywhere (and Operators), I've had a good front-row seat to what makes a strong monthly update and what makes a bad one.

Unfortunately, only about 1/3 of all Founders update their investors.

The primary reason why most Founders don't update investors is fear of being judged.

Don't be afraid. Fear not my fellow Founders.

The reality is that investors really are simply looking to help you. It's their money at stake, after all. If you had your money in an investment, wouldn't you want to be able to help that company succeed? Yes. You would. Monthly updates allow Founders to not just update investors but ask for help.

I know it's a hard thing to do when things aren't going well, but it's worth it.

What goes into a monthly investor update?

Pulled from Silicon Valley investor writing (Jason Calacanis, Keith Rabois, Chris Dixon, Brian Ma) and Calacanis's book Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups. Here we go:

• Summary. One paragraph. 6-8 sentences max. Investors should read this in 30 seconds or less.
• Asks for help. So we can take action.
• Cash in the bank: $, burn ($ per month), runway (# months).
• Core metrics: Top 3 + YoY and MoM % growth + commentary on those metrics + how they compare to goals/plan (ahead, behind, why?).
• Sub-metrics: The next bucket of sub-metrics important to understanding your business. Most of your investors are hopefully operators, industry experts, or VCs who know the space and can give you input.
• Good/bad/ugly. If you're not talking about the bad and ugly, you're doing YOURSELF a disservice. Investors, particularly founders themselves or experienced operators, know >50% of stuff in a startup is bad and ugly. And if it's not, you're not pushing hard or fast enough. So convey that stuff. And then ask for help.
• Your one big focus area for next month.
• New hires and departures (and why you hired/fired or why team members chose to move on).
• Props / thank yous. Highlight ways investors have helped you. Encourages other readers to step up.
• PR links you want investors to share on social.
• Links to trailing 12 months of updates. The living history is good for you and for your investors so they can see "is this founder having a problem they need help with that they don't know they have?" Not all problems are clear as day. Most aren't.

That's all I got.

If you think I'm missing anything that should be included, let me know.