October 13, 2026
Send every investor a short written update on a regular schedule: monthly at the seed stage and at least quarterly after a Series A. A good update gives a quick summary, the key numbers, honest highs and lows, and a few specific asks. If you’ve done a priced round, your investor agreements may also require formal financial statements, and the update doesn’t replace those.
Key takeaways
Your investors chose to back you, and updates are how they stay on your side. Founders who send candid, regular updates build trust, get more useful help and introductions, and have an easier time raising the next round, because existing investors are more likely to invest again and refer others. Investors who hear nothing tend to assume the worst. An update also forces a monthly discipline of looking honestly at your own numbers.
Monthly is the norm at the pre-seed and seed stages. Many companies move to quarterly after a Series A, when there is a board meeting cadence and more formal reporting. Whatever you choose, be consistent. A skipped month reads as bad news.
Every good template comes down to three things: a performance snapshot, an honest account of highs and lows, and specific requests for help. A simple version:
Subject: [Company] update, [Month Year]
TL;DR: Two or three sentences on how the month went.
Key numbers: Revenue (and growth), cash on hand, monthly burn and months of runway, plus the one or two metrics that best show traction for your business.
Highlights: Two or three wins, such as customers, launches or hires.
Lowlights: Two or three problems and what you’re doing about them.
Asks: Two or three specific requests, such as an intro to a named company, a referral for a role, or advice on a pricing question.
Vague asks (“intros to anyone in fintech”) get ignored; specific ones (“an intro to the head of payments at a named bank”) get answered. The asks section is also the place to flag an upcoming raise, so investors can plan their pro rata participation. For more examples, see the Techstars Minimum Viable Update and GitLab investor update templates.
Check your financing documents. After a priced round, the investor rights agreement typically gives “major investors” information rights: annual financial statements within a set period after year-end, quarterly unaudited financials, and often an annual budget. Some major investors also get inspection rights. See Series Seed vs. NVCA Documents.
A standard SAFE carries no information rights, though some investors negotiate them in a side letter. Everything beyond the contract is voluntary, but investors expect regular updates, and a good update is the cheapest relationship-building you’ll do. For the other obligations that start after a round closes, see What Comes After Fundraising?
Yes. Investor updates are communications to your securityholders, and anything you say may be scrutinized later, especially when you are raising again. Be accurate, label projections and forecasts as projections, don’t promise outcomes, and don’t leave out a serious problem you’d need to disclose in your next round. Bad news delivered early and plainly almost always lands better than bad news discovered later. Ask investors to keep updates confidential, and leave out trade secrets and anything you wouldn’t want forwarded.
If you have a board, the update complements the board deck rather than replacing it. See How Do I Run an Effective Startup Board Meeting? If you’d like help understanding what your investor agreements require, contact us.
