What a good investor update looks like, and how often to send one

A good investor update is short, regular and honest. The format I recommend, a fill-in template, and how to choose between monthly and quarterly.

By Olufemi Palmer, Managing Partner & Founder

An investor update isn't a press release. It's a short, regular note that tells the people who backed you what's really happening, so they can help.

Most founders know they should send one. Fewer send them consistently, and fewer still write them in a way that gets read. The usual problems are easy to spot: they wait for good news, they change the numbers every time, and they end without asking for anything.

Here's what a good update looks like, how often to send it, and how to turn it into a habit you'll actually keep.

How often: monthly, until you have a reason to change

For an early-stage B2B company, I recommend monthly.

A month is long enough to have something real to report and short enough that problems don't pile up unseen. It gives investors a steady picture instead of occasional snapshots. And it forces you to look at your own numbers honestly once a month, which may be the biggest benefit of all.

Quarterly can make sense later, once you have a formal board rhythm and your main investors get board materials anyway. Some founders keep a short monthly note and add a fuller quarterly one.

Whatever you choose, consistency matters more than frequency. Same day, every period. Predictable beats perfect. An update that lands on the fifth of every month builds trust, even when the news is mixed. One that only shows up after a good quarter teaches investors that silence means bad news.

Who gets it

Start with current investors and advisors. They've backed you, and they want to know how it's going and where they can help.

Then add prospective investors you've met who asked to be kept posted. Ask before adding anyone, and make it easy to opt out. An update that feels like a mass email gets treated like one.

The format, in this order

1. Headline

One sentence that sums up the month, good or bad. Something like "[Revenue up X%], [one key hire still open]." If someone reads only this line, they should still know how the month went.

2. Numbers

Three to five metrics, always the same ones, always in the same order. For most early B2B companies that means revenue, burn, runway, pipeline, and one product metric that shows customers are getting value.

Show this month next to last month. Don't change a definition without saying so. And if a number gets worse, leave it in. Investors notice when a metric quietly disappears, and they draw their own conclusions.

3. Wins

Two or three real ones. Be specific. "Closed two customers in our core segment, both from referrals" says much more than "strong sales momentum."

4. Misses

One or two, stated plainly, with what you're doing about each. A lost deal, a hire that fell through, a launch that slipped.

This is the section founders most want to skip, and it's the one that builds the most trust. Investors expect things to go wrong. What worries them is hearing about it late.

5. Asks

Specific, and few. More on this below, because it's the part that turns an update from a report into something useful.

Why the asks matter most

Investors generally want to help, but they can't guess how. A vague ask gives them nothing to act on. A specific one tells them exactly what to do.

Compare:

- "Any intros welcome" vs. "An intro to the head of finance at [company type or named company]" - "Feedback appreciated" vs. "Twenty minutes with someone who has priced a product for [buyer]" - "We're hiring" vs. "Referrals for a [role] who has sold to [buyer] before"

The specific versions are easy to say yes or no to. The vague ones are easy to ignore.

Then close the loop. Next month, thank the people who helped and say what came of it. It shows your asks get used, and it makes people more likely to help again.

A template you can copy

Subject: [Company] [Month] update: [headline in a few words] Headline: [One sentence on the most important thing this month.] Numbers (this month / last month) - Revenue: [ ] / [ ] - Monthly burn: [ ] / [ ] - Runway: [ ] months / [ ] months - Qualified pipeline: [ ] / [ ] - [Product metric]: [ ] / [ ] Wins - [ ] - [ ] Misses - [What happened, and what we're doing about it] Asks - [Specific person, role or help needed] Thanks: [Who helped since last update, and what came of it]

Put it in the body of the email, not just an attachment. Keep it to about a screen and a half.

Common mistakes

- Waiting for good news. Skipping a bad month says more than the bad month would have. - Burying a bad month in the middle. If it's the most important thing, it goes in the headline. - Changing the metrics each time. It makes trends impossible to read and looks like you're hiding something. - Writing too much. If it takes more than a couple of minutes to read, it won't get read. - Mixing forecasts with results. Keep what happened separate from what you expect, and label forecasts clearly.

A few common-sense cautions

Updates get forwarded. Write each one as if it could reach someone you didn't send it to. Don't share customer names or details you don't have permission to share, and keep truly sensitive matters for a direct conversation.

If you're in the middle of a raise and sending updates to prospective investors, ask your lawyer what's appropriate to include. That's a quick question that's much easier to ask before you hit send.

How to write it in under an hour

The founders who keep this habit don't write updates from scratch. They collect them.

Keep a running doc during the month. When something happens, good or bad, add one line. When you think of an ask, add it. On update day, pull your numbers, read the doc, pick the headline and edit down. Put a recurring reminder on your calendar so the date never depends on your mood.

Before a raise

Your update list is also your warmest investor list. The people who've read your updates for months already know your story and your trajectory. When you open a round, they're the first people to call.

A run of consistent updates shows progress over time in a way no single slide can. It's the difference between asking an investor to believe your plan and showing them you've been doing what you said you would.

The point

A good investor update is short, regular and honest. Same day, same metrics, real misses and specific asks. Do it every month and it keeps your investors useful, keeps prospective investors warm, and keeps you honest about your own business.

If you're a B2B founder building this habit ahead of a raise, create a free founder profile on Initio.

Create your free founder profile