Investor updates are the primary way that startup founders communicate with their investors to provide key insights into the company. They are typically sent out monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually and have a wide variety of templates available. We recommend using a template that fits your business model, stage of the company, and relationship with your investors.
One of the most important parts of an investor update is sharing performance metrics and results. This will help give your investors a glimpse into how the company is performing and allow them to track progress from month to month. Depending on the stage of the company, these can include things like revenue growth, net new MRR, customer retention, and logo retention.
Aside from sharing key performance metrics, it is also a good time to highlight accomplishments within the company. This could be anything from a record quarter to a big event to a successful product shipment. It is important to give individual kudos where needed and also make sure to mention any new hires so that they can feel recognized and welcomed into the team.
Finally, the most important part of an investor update is laying out any challenges that you or the company is currently facing. This may seem uncomfortable but it is vital that your investors know what is going on in the business so that they can help you. It is likely that the same investors who were involved in your round will have other connections that can help you solve problems, and laying out these challenges allows your investors to leverage their network where possible.