A startup investor update is a regular communication that shares the status of a company’s progress with its investors. It’s a great way to deepen transparency and trust, and it’s typically in an investor’s best interests to see the companies they invest in succeed.
Creating investor updates can be a time-consuming process, and it’s important for founders to get them right. They should be concise and easy to navigate, and they should also be consistent, with the same metrics used each month. This helps investors easily compare the performance of different periods and provides them with a clear picture of the business’s health.
The first step in writing an investor update is collecting the key data that you want to include. It’s best to have these ready before the end of the previous month so that you can quickly collect the highlights that you would like to share in the update. It’s also good to have a plan for how often you will send an investor update, whether it’s at the end of each month or the beginning of the following one. Having a consistent schedule shows that you take these updates seriously and that you are committed to keeping your investors in the loop.
The next step is deciding which key metrics you will include in your investor update. Typically, these will be the most important ones for your business and those that will give investors the biggest picture of your company’s progress. It’s also important to include any lowlights in your investor update, as these can help your investors understand what challenges the company is currently facing.