Founders Sharing Memos: Why, When, and How It Transforms Startups

What Are Founder Memos?

Defining Internal Memos in Startups

Founder memos are not your average broadcast emails or top-down announcements. These are thoughtful written notes—crafted by the founder—to explain big-picture intentions, clarify decisions, or capture early company DNA. Unlike project updates or status reports, founder memos tackle the “why” behind a shift in direction, a bold vision, or an introspective reflection on lessons learned. They’re less about day-to-day details and more about shaping purpose.

Types of Founder Memos and Real Examples

Founder memos come in many flavors—each tied closely to a moment or a turning point. Some memos introduce the company’s mission on day zero, while others document a tough decision, like killing a product line or pivoting the business. There are “founder manifestos” that rally employees around core values, and raw post-mortems where founders dissect a failed experiment so the whole team learns together. You might even recognize a legendary public memo, like Brian Chesky’s open letter on Airbnb’s restructuring—or small, personal notes shared privately within a five-person team.

At their core, founder memos capture a founder’s unfiltered thought process and invite others into it. This written trail becomes a living archive of what shaped a startup, beyond what can be summarized in quick Slack chats or even all-hands meetings.

If you’ve ever wondered what inspires founders to share these memos at all, it’s worth exploring what they unlock—both for the company and the people leading it.

Why Founders Share Memos

Driving Clarity and Alignment

Startups live and die by focus. When founders share memos, they put everyone on the same page about what matters most right now. Instead of vague ambition or scattered priorities, team members can read for themselves what’s guiding decisions this week or this quarter. Whether it’s outlining why a new product direction matters, or explaining the reasoning behind a tough call, memos help everyone connect the dots—and move together.

Building Trust From Day One

Memos aren’t just about pushing information down the chain; they’re acts of transparency. When a founder explains not just the “what” but the “why,” it shows respect for the team’s intelligence and time. This habit, practiced early, sets the expectation that people deserve to know what’s really happening. As a result, teams worry less about hidden agendas and spend their energy building the company.

Supporting Culture and Growth

Every startup claims to have a unique culture, but culture is shaped most by what leaders repeat and how they communicate. When founders use memos to share values, lessons, or even mistakes, it sends a signal that growth and openness aren’t slogans—they’re daily practice. Over time, these written words become shared reference points that help new arrivals “get it” faster and strengthen your culture as you scale.

A founder’s memo isn’t just an artifact—it’s a catalyst for conversation and momentum. Now that we’ve explored why these memos matter so much, let’s look at the pivotal moments when sharing one can make all the difference.

When to Share a Founder Memo

Moments That Matter: Fundraising, Pivots, and Milestones

Timing a founder memo isn’t about maintaining a calendar—it’s about sensing inflection points. When the company is gearing up for fundraising, words from the founder can ignite motivation and demystify the road ahead. During a strategic pivot, a memo serves as a beacon, steadying nerves and spotlighting the “why” behind the shift. These communications matter most before or immediately after milestones—think product launches, big hires, or even tough setbacks—when the atmosphere buzzes with questions and everyone craves context.

Recurring vs. One-Off Communications

Not every founder memo needs to land with the drama of a thunderclap. Some of the most impactful memos show up regularly—monthly reflections or quarterly updates carry a rhythm that teams rely on. Recurring memos create continuity, while the one-off messages deliver clarity during unpredictable events. Recognizing which is which, and not overloading people with either, helps avoid “memo fatigue,” so teams actually look forward to reading them.

Getting the memo’s timing right can turn it into an anchor. But words are only half of what matters—how you write them shapes whether your team pays attention or tunes out. Let’s look at what makes a founder memo not just informative, but genuinely readable.

How to Write a Memo That Teams Actually Read

Choosing the Tone and Level of Detail

The impact of your memo starts with the voice behind it. Write as if you’re speaking directly to the team—with honesty and presence, not from a pedestal. Use the simplest words that fit, and cut anything you wouldn’t say out loud in a group. The right amount of detail means every person reading knows what’s at stake and why the topic matters, but isn’t lost in a forest of footnotes or numbers. If you wouldn’t bother reading it yourself, trim it ruthlessly.

Storytelling vs. Bullet Points

Stories stick. If you open with a scene—a customer call gone sideways, a breakthrough in the lab, the tension before a launch—teammates will feel pulled in. Only then do you sprinkle in bullet points to anchor the key facts or next steps. The memo is not a shopping list; it’s a narrative with just enough scaffolding to make the takeaways unmistakable.

The image above captures a founder, deep in thought, shaping a memo that will set the course for the team—reminding us that the best memos are crafted with care, not dashed off quickly.

Inviting Feedback—and When Not To

Not every memo should feel like a suggestion box. If the message is about exploring new directions or solving thorny problems, invite reactions—maybe with a direct question or a request for pushback. If the update announces a decision that’s set, make it clear: acknowledgment is enough, and debate can wait. Feedback fatigue is real, so signal when the floor genuinely is (or isn’t) open.

A killer memo glues a team together. But its true magic happens once it reaches beyond the sender, drawing readers in and sparking new conversations. Next, let’s explore what changes when memos leave the four walls of the company.

Sharing Memos Beyond the Company Walls

Public Memos: Benefits and Risks

Occasionally, a founder’s memo escapes the confines of the team and surfaces on blogs, investor updates, or Twitter threads. Sharing these memos publicly can signal confidence, ambition, and radical transparency. When done thoughtfully, a public memo can build an audience around your company’s mission, draw in talent who resonate with your vision, and even foster trust with customers and the wider ecosystem. By revealing your thinking, you invite others to root for your success—or to challenge your assumptions in ways that sharpen your strategy.

But every public memo is a bet. What energizes insiders might confuse outsiders, especially without context. Sensitive numbers, unfinished ideas, or honest failed experiments can spark misunderstanding or fuel rumors. The risk is magnified when competitors spot a revealing comment or a loose end to exploit. Deciding to make a memo public demands editing with external eyes—what excites the world may not be what you intended to share.

Case Studies: Notable Founder Memos Shared Externally

History is full of founder memos that leapt into the public domain—and changed the conversation. When Jeff Bezos released his “Day 1” letter, it crystallized Amazon’s values far beyond Seattle’s walls, influencing entrepreneurs everywhere. Stripe’s memos on building technical infrastructure have become reference points for how to communicate product vision with precision. These documents often transcend company boundaries, shaping hiring pipelines, investor interest, and industry trends. Their impact stems from clear conviction, a willingness to share both purpose and process, and practiced judgment about what’s fair game for the world versus what stays in the vault.

While sharing memos beyond your startup’s walls can be catalytic, every founder must grapple with what not to share. Next, let’s explore where to draw the line—and how to keep certain messages where they belong.

Founders’ Lost Memos: What Should Stay Private

Introducing Boundaries

Sharing memos can unlock transparency, but not every thought is meant for all eyes. The instinct to overshare can be as risky as keeping everything close to your chest. Imagine a chessboard: every piece has a move, but some moves should stay hidden until the time is right. Founders must draw a line between empowering teams and exposing vulnerabilities that can cause uncertainty—or worse, damage trust.

Sensitive Topics and Legal Considerations

Certain topics in a founder’s memo are landmines. Pending acquisition talks, ongoing litigation, or early discussions about layoffs are not just internal headaches—they may invite legal trouble or spark rumors that hurt morale and brand. Anything involving personal data of employees or customers must stay locked down; privacy isn’t just a courtesy, it’s required by law. Intellectual property, prototype details, or raw investor feedback could end up in the hands of competitors if shared carelessly.

Oversharing also exposes founders personally. Raw frustration with co-founders or investors, or shorthanded sarcasm about institutional partners, belongs in draft form—never sent. Memos, unlike hallway conversations, become documented history; regrets are harder to erase from an inbox.

Mastering this balancing act is essential for long-term trust. Get it wrong, and the next communication tool or process may not save you. But how do you build reliable habits and workflows to manage this delicate flow over time? Let’s explore the tools and routines that help founder memos drive progress—without letting secrets slip out.

Tools and Habits: Making Founder Memos Work Long-Term

Formats: Email vs. Docs vs. Video

The right memo format can make or break how ideas travel. Email grants immediacy—thoughts land straight in inboxes, demanding attention. Docs, on the other hand, allow for comments, iterations, and history; they turn one-off broadcasts into a living timeline of your thinking. Video works when nuance or emotion can’t be reduced to text, letting founders communicate presence or conviction that might get lost on a page. Often, a combination—an email with a link to a doc, or including a short video as context—keeps things human and flexible.

Routine, Archives, and Accessibility

Memos aren’t valuable if they disappear three weeks after being sent. Finding the right rhythm—monthly for broad updates, ad hoc for turning points—builds expectations. As this habit forms, so does documentation. Create a single, searchable home for old memos: a Google Drive folder, a Notion database, or another source of truth. This ensures that new hires can catch up quickly, and everyone can revisit “why” decisions were made. Accessibility matters too—if your team is remote or distributed, make sure memos don’t get trapped behind logins or cluttered threads.

Practices and tools only become habits when they genuinely make work easier. After all, the real power of founder memos shows itself not just in their creation or sharing, but in the culture of transparency and trust they sustain. Up next, we’ll see what seasoned founders have learned from sending—and sometimes stumbling with—their own memos.

Lessons from Founders on Sharing Memos

Quick Tips from Startup Leaders

Many founders will confess their first memo felt awkward, or even risky. What they quickly discovered is that openness sparks real questions and unexpected contributions. For example, one founder shared that when she explained her thinking behind a product roadmap, a junior engineer pointed out a missing edge case—saving weeks of revision down the line. Other leaders stress: “Don’t treat memos as sermons. Ask something. Leave a question hanging.” This approach invites conversation, not just compliance.

Keep it brief, but don’t sanitize. When Brian Chesky of Airbnb circulated his now-famous growth memo, he included uncertainties, not just goals. This honesty helped his team rally, even during lulls. Similarly, seasoned founders suggest time-stamping memos. “Growth looks different six months later. Your thinking should, too.”

Mistakes to Avoid

A common pitfall is writing for the record, not for clarity. Memos bogged down in jargon or, worse, written like passive press releases, rarely get read—let alone spark a shift. Some founders have admitted to accidentally alienating teams by dropping memos with major decisions, but little context on the ‘why.’ One shared, “I thought the memo made everything clearer. Instead, it made me seem distant.”

Over-sharing can also cause confusion, especially when sensitive numbers or unvetted ideas slip out before they’re fully baked. Top founders recommend a thought partner or editor for key memos—not just for grammar, but for gut checks: “Does this actually help, or just create noise?”

Learning what actually resonates (and what falls flat) takes practice and reflection. Up next, we’ll look at how founders draw the line between healthy transparency and necessary privacy—something every startup faces as it grows.