How do you keep investors updated. A must-know for founders, with templates

Early stage startups should report to their investors monthly. It can be a simple email. The aim is to give a succinct but informative account of what has been happening in the business, key performance indicators, what’s coming up in terms of progress and clarify any asks of investors. Also use great feedback from customers/partners (quotes) to illustrate progress/successes and make it more personal.

Be sure to share bad news too so that investors are not blindsided down the line - they may be able to help with industry knowledge, advice, and contacts to solve your problems or overcome a hiccup. You want to build rapport with each of your investors for a strong working relationship; this will increase the chances of follow-on investments. The template below covers each of these topics.

Introduction (Summary of this month)

Hello everyone,

It’s been the best month in terms of revenues and user growth to date at {company name}…

.…despite the uncertain economic environment, we are starting to get {product/market fit/ return calls from investors who were on holiday in the summer/ great reviews from customers / …}

While we have had to {slow spending/ build the team/ any other challenges } we are busy planning our strategy for the next year and {state milestones/ ambitions for the next few months and any big wins e.g; adding to the potential customer base}

KPIs (use the ones below that make most sense for your business)

Time for some numbers so you can see our progress! The bracketed figures are month on month growth rates.

Commercial

• Revenues: £xxx (+/- xx%)

• Expenses: £xxx (+/- xx%) and any expected changes to trend

• Cash flow: £xxx (+/- xx%)

• Burn rate for {month, year} of £xxx

• Net cash position (month, year): £xxx

• Months of Runway = typically net cash divided by monthly burn rate, but if your burn rate is not steady or is increasing you need to adjust accordingly

Current Traction

• Total customers/users: xxx (+/- xx%)

• Customer retention or repeat purchases

• New registered users: xxx (+/- xx%)

• Trend on your cost of customer acquisition

• Website/app visits: xxx (+/- xx%)

Social (if meaningful for your business)

• Twitter followers: xxx (+/- xx%)

• Instagram followers: xxx (+/- xx%)

• Facebook followers: xxx (+/- xx%)

• TikTok Followers: xxx (+/- xx%)

• LinkedIn followers: xxx (+/- xx%)

Progress (could bullet or write long form)

Fundraising

• We have raised a bridge round of …

• We are making good progress with the Seed round - we have soft commitments/indications of interest for… of the funds we need and further investor meetings scheduled

Commercial

• Strong pipeline: In touch with xxx potential customers/partners with meetings scheduled and indications of interest to launch …

• We are planning a launch with xxx in xxx

• Contracts being exchanged with

Team

• Key hires, their skills/expertise, the return expected…

• Are onboarding …

• Hiring gaps to be filled over next quarter, 6 months

• Any personnel issues to be addressed

Product Update

• Recent product changes

• Any product glitches and timing on upcoming corrections (any impact on your resources and/or market reputation?)

• Product roadmap updates, if any

Marketing/PR

• Press Mentions - Coverage in …

Market Insights (if there are any changes that are noteworthy)

• Industry trends

• Competition

What’s coming up?

• Your next set of milestones/benchmarks

• Launching with … on …, one of the biggest/best …

• Major PR campaigns around the launch…

• Planning for geographic expansion ….

• Hiring for …

Asks

• Leads for new hires…

• Fundraising…

• Contacts at…

Wrapping up

1-2 sentences summarising progress/ambition and recognising challenges

Not raised funds yet? Let us help you! Apply for our foundation programme here