---
name: investor-update
description: Use when asked to write a regular investor update — a concise, often-monthly written update on company progress sent to investors — distinct from a full [[board-deck]], which is prepared for a formal governance meeting rather than a lighter, more frequent written note.
---

# Investor Update

An investor update is a regular, concise update sent to investors on
company progress. It's typically written and sent monthly or quarterly,
and it's much lighter than a [[board-deck]] — no meeting required, no
governance decisions on the agenda, just enough for investors to track
how the company is doing between the moments they're more formally
involved.

## Key components

- **Headline metrics, tracked consistently** — the same core numbers
  (e.g. revenue, growth, burn, runway, key usage metric) reported update
  to update, so a reader can actually see the trend rather than a single
  disconnected snapshot each time.
- **Wins and challenges, both** — real progress alongside real problems,
  not a highlight reel; investors who only ever hear good news lose the
  ability to help with the bad news while it's still solvable.
- **Specific asks** — concrete things investors can actually do: an
  introduction to a target customer, a candidate for an open role, advice
  on a specific decision. A vague "let us know if you can help" rarely
  produces anything; a named, specific ask often does.
- **Brief context on the number's meaning** — a short note on what
  changed and why, not just a table of figures with no interpretation.

## Why consistent metrics matter more than which ones

The specific metrics chosen matter less than reporting the same ones,
defined the same way, every time. A metric that changes definition or
quietly disappears between updates breaks the reader's ability to see a
trend, even if every individual number was accurate on its own terms.
Investors are reading these updates over months and years to build a
mental model of the company's trajectory; that only works if the
numbers underneath are actually comparable update to update.

## Common pitfalls

- **Only good news reported** — problems that were visible internally
  for months get omitted, and investors are blindsided later when the
  problem surfaces on its own, having lost months of opportunity to help.
- **Metrics that change definition with no explanation** — swapping how
  a number is calculated (a different revenue definition, a redefined
  active-user threshold) without flagging it makes the whole trend line
  meaningless, even retroactively.
- **Irregular sending cadence** — updates sent whenever it's convenient,
  with long unexplained gaps, leave investors with no real sense of the
  company's trajectory between the updates they do receive.
- **No specific ask** — a generic "reach out if you can help" rarely
  produces anything actionable; a named introduction or a named open
  role gets acted on far more often.
- **Update as a pitch, not a status report** — writing purely to impress
  rather than to inform erodes trust once investors notice the gap
  between the update's tone and reality.

## Learn more

- [[board-deck]] for the heavier, meeting-based counterpart prepared for
  formal governance decisions rather than a routine written update.
- [[venture-capital]] and [[angel-investor]] for the investor
  relationships an update is meant to sustain between funding events.
- [[cap-table]] for the ownership record these investors hold a stake
  in, sometimes referenced alongside the update's metrics.
- [[product-roadmap]] for the forward-looking plan an update's progress
  section is often measured against.