Investor Update Template for Founders: Structure, Examples, and Best Practices
Staying in touch with your investors shouldn’t feel intimidating or time-consuming. In fact, regular investor updates can be one of the most valuable habits a founder builds—both for the company and for personal growth as a leader. According to research by Visible.vc, startups that send regular updates are 300% more likely to receive follow-on funding than those that don’t. Consistent updates help you build trust, keep your supporters engaged, and open doors to valuable feedback and resources.
But what makes a great investor update? What information are investors really looking for, and how can you keep updates both honest and efficient without overwhelming your readers or yourself? In this guide, we break down the essential structure of an effective investor update, share real examples, and offer practical tips to make the process easier—plus, you’ll find templates you can start using right away.
Why Investor Updates Matter for Founders
Building Trust and Transparency
Founders who regularly share updates signal that they’re not hiding in the shadows. By revealing both wins and stumbles, you invite your investors into the story—giving them confidence that they’re backing a team that communicates openly, even when things get bumpy. This kind of candor forges trust and sets the stage for stronger, long-term relationships.
Unlocking Investor Support and Resources
Investors want to help, but they can’t read minds. Updates let you show where you’re stuck or where things are accelerating. When you highlight a hiring need or a big product milestone, investors find it easier to open their networks, offer practical advice, or spot ways to clear roadblocks that might slow you down.
Staying Accountable and Focused
Drafting regular updates forces you to pause and reflect. What moved the needle this month? Where did progress stall? The ritual of reporting sharpens your own focus and brings clarity to your team’s priorities. That rhythm of looking back—and planning forward—becomes a quiet but powerful tool for course-correcting and setting goals that truly matter.
Now that we’ve explored why investor updates are valuable for founders and their supporters, let’s turn to what actually makes an update useful—and how to organize key information so investors always know where things stand.
Core Elements of an Effective Investor Update
Key Metrics to Include
Numbers speak louder than superlatives. When drafting your update, zero in on core figures: monthly recurring revenue, customer growth, cash runway, churn rates, and any metric that drives the business. Presenting a straightforward table or chart, like the one below, clarifies progress and signals attention to detail.
Recent Highlights
Share what moved the needle this month—perhaps a new partnership, product launch, or a key hire. Focus only on developments with real business impact, even if the news is subtle or incremental. This gives investors context about your momentum.
Challenges and Lowlights
Be upfront about setbacks. Missed targets, delayed shipping dates, or churn spikes all belong here. Avoid sugarcoating. Instead, offer a sentence or two about what happened and, more importantly, what you’re doing about it. Investors appreciate candor and solutions over spin.
Future Outlook and Roadmap
Show investors where you’re headed over the next quarter or year. Briefly outline upcoming goals, launches, or experiments. Connecting current efforts with future plans helps investors see the bigger picture—and that you’re always building toward something tangible.
Requests and Asks
This is where you leverage your audience. Need introductions to candidates? Looking for advice on a regulatory hiccup? Spell out specific requests. Precise, actionable asks are far more likely to spark a response than open-ended appeals for “help.”
With these elements in place, you have the foundation for investor updates that are clear, actionable, and honest. Next, you’ll see how to put all these moving parts together into an easy-to-follow template designed for real-world use.
Investor Update Template for Founders
Customizable Email Outline
The most effective investor updates follow a straightforward structure. Begin with a greeting and state the purpose of your update. Move directly into the numbers—highlight your key metrics first. Next, provide a summary of the previous month or quarter, covering both bright spots and tough challenges. Dedicate a space to what’s ahead—upcoming milestones, product launches, or goals. End with a clear “ask”—what do you need from your investors?
Here’s a skeletal email outline to help you get started:
Sample Update (Filled Example)
No need to reinvent the wheel. Here’s a sample update using the above outline. You can modify the tone, depth, and data as needed to suit your relationship with investors.
Subject: April 2024 Update – Sproutly
Hi everyone,
We closed April with record growth in user sign-ups and secured a major partnership—more below!
Key Metrics
– MRR: $43,200 (up 14% MoM)
– New Users: 502
– Churn: 3.1%
– Cash Runway: 13 months
Highlights
– Signed partnership with Acme Co.
– Hired VP of Engineering
– Launched v2 of our iOS app
Challenges
– Onboarding for Acme slowed due to technical hiccups
– App Store review delays set back product timeline one week
Roadmap
– Complete Acme onboarding by May 15
– Release Android beta
– Kick off fundraising process in June
Requests
– Warm intros to B2B SaaS sales advisors
– Feedback on our new pitch deck (attached)
Thanks for your ongoing support,
Ella & the Sproutly team
With this template and example in hand, you’re ready to start sharing updates that keep investors informed and invested in your journey. Let’s explore how to write these updates efficiently and make each message count.
Tips for Writing Concise and Impactful Updates
Choosing the Right Frequency
Sending updates too often drowns out the urgency; too rarely, and you risk going off the radar. For most early-stage startups, a monthly update strikes the right balance. As your company scales, quarterly works for many teams. Choose a tempo that matches your company’s pace—enough for investors to stay informed, not so much that your notes get ignored.
How to Share Good and Bad News
Be straightforward. Investors notice when you gloss over bad news or exaggerate progress. Present wins with numbers, not adjectives. When things go wrong, explain what happened in a short sentence, and say what you’re doing to fix it. Honest updates invite real support, and owning setbacks shows maturity.
How to Motivate Investor Engagement
Go beyond updates—invite action. Ask clear, specific questions (“Do you know any SaaS sales leaders hiring?” is better than “Any advice?”). Recognize investors who help out so the rest feel involved. Make it easy for recipients: bullet points, links, and a clear call to action naturally prompt replies.
Once you streamline your updates, you can focus on what details to include and how to structure them for clarity. Let’s look at practical format tips and real-life examples.
Frequently Asked Questions for Founders
Ideal Length and Format
Keep your investor updates to one page or a concise email—think five minutes or less to read. Start with a quick summary, break info into clear sections, and use bullet points for key figures or milestones. Attach charts if they reveal trends at a glance, but avoid sending decks unless specifically requested.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Skipping bad news or tough challenges only breeds suspicion—share setbacks briefly, along with your plan to tackle them. Avoid dense jargon, passive updates (“nothing new this month”), or cramming in every minor win. Resist vague requests; instead, be direct about what help you need.
Tools and Templates for Automation
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Tools like Visible.vc, Google Docs with email automation, or Notion templates can help you standardize and track updates. Many CRMs also allow custom report creation. Pick one that makes it painless to track KPIs and send updates regularly.
Now that you’re prepared to tackle the most common founder questions, you’re ready for a practical resource to make your own update process even easier and more effective.
Downloadable Investor Update Template for Founders
Skip wrestling with blank screens and formatting headaches. Here is a free, downloadable investor update template—built specifically for founders who want clear, organized, and actionable updates. This template gives you ready-made sections for metrics, highlights, challenges, and requests, so you can focus on honest communication instead of document layout.
Download the Investor Update Template (Word Doc)
Inside the template you’ll find:
Review it each month before you send your update; these prompts will keep your messaging focused and your investors in-the-loop. You can also adapt the template to fit your own voice and company stage.
Want to see how a great investor update looks in practice? Let’s walk through some clear, real-world examples next—and see how the format works with real numbers and company stories.