Most founders assume investor updates don't start before the day money hits the bank.

But in the best case scenario, they've started way before. Even before the round was actually open. The founders who figure this out can have a completely different fundraise from everyone else. By the time they open a round, half their target list has already been watching them for months, building conviction on autopilot, without the pressure to take a decision RIGHT NOW.

So, when do you start updating investors? Two answers: before you have them, and after you have them. Same habit, but slightly different content. We'll look into both today.

Before you have investors

The goal here isn't reporting to anyone. Nobody is owed anything yet. The goal is to build a relationship with people who might fund you in a year, so that when you finally start raising, you're not introducing yourself from scratch.

There are two natural ways in.

Option 1: way before you're raising.

You're building something, and you start reaching out to investors for feedback on the product. Not for money. You make that very clear, and you make them part of the process. Then you ask if they'd like a short update every now and then.

This is extremely powerful if you go on to generate real traction, because they'll have followed it the whole way. Making them part of the story is also likely to make them more engaged, sympathise with you, and ultimately consider you for an investment when the time comes. When you start raising, these are the first people you engage, and they already know the basics.

A hidden benefit: even if they don't invest, this is a way to win them for the cause, and good investors can help you in many other ways next to giving you money.

Option 2: after a soft no.

You've already started speaking with investors and you get the classic response: we'd need to see more traction, let's wait, maybe we join later. Most founders cross this off as a rejection and move on.

Don't. Ask if they'd mind if you share an update every now and then. Most won't mind. In fact, plenty of them would like it, because tracking promising companies over time is literally part of the job.

Either way you end up with multiple touchpoints instead of one cold pitch. They follow your progress almost on autopilot. And when the time comes, you summarise all your (hopefully amazing) traction and ask for a meeting.

A few tips on structuring your updates

• Build a list. Only investors you've had at least one real conversation with, and such that have agreed to be kept in the loop. Emailing strangers misses the point.
• Lead with the wins and the traction. Opposite to your actual investor reports, these updates should lean heavy towards your wins and traction, not your challenges and disappointments.
• Go light on the challenges. But mention one occasionally, so it still sounds real (what startup does not face challenges??).
• Once a month, or once every other month. Do not spam them weekly with every new deal you sign, instead summarise a few cool points and send them in one go, not more often than once a month.
• Make it personal once you start raising. When the time comes to announce your round, approach every investor personally. This will make them feel special and engaged. Ask for a meeting to tell them more.

What to include

Keep it to one screen.

• One line on what you do. A nice touch at the top, so nobody has to remember. "[Company] helps [who] do [what]."
• Progress since the last update. Three to five points across key topics: revenue and customer wins, product milestones shipped, partnerships or press, key hires, strong retention or usage numbers. Put a number on every one of them. Vague statements such as "We've seen incredible growth" tell very little.
• Include the same 2 to 4 metrics, every time. Whichever ones matter for your model: MRR, paying customers, retention, GMV, weekly active users.
• What's next. Your focus for the coming 1 to 3 months.

Add a line on your round if you're opening one soon. "Opening a €800k pre-seed in September" if that's the goal.

The full template, with guidance on what to write in each section, is in the Notion page I put together.

​Get it here. ​

After you have investors

Once someone has actually wired you money, these updates stop being optional. Most funds will require monthly or quarterly reporting anyway. Some will send you their own template and ask you to stick to it. Some will let you use whatever you like.

If you get to choose, choose light. A simple email with a few sections, a Notion page, or a one pager. My advice is to skip the presentation entirely. A deck takes much longer to build, and doesn't add as much value. One skimmable page is ideal, written in short bullets rather than paragraphs, so an investor can scan it in two minutes.

You'll recognise part of this from the section above. What's new once someone is actually on your cap table: the lowlights, the full KPI block, the operational detail across product, sales and team, and the asks.

• TL;DR. One line on how the month went.
• Highlights. Top progress across product, GTM, customers, partnerships, operations.
• Lowlights.(new) What didn't go as planned: missed metrics, team issues, product setbacks, GTM headwinds.
• KPIs.(expanded) Revenue (MRR/ARR, MoM growth), burn and runway, your North Star metric, customer metrics, sales funnel.
• Product.(new) Features shipped, upcoming releases, usage insights.
• GTM & Sales.(new) Deals closed, churn, upsell, channel performance.
• Team.(new) Key hires, org changes, morale.
• What's next. Key bets, launches, experiments for the coming month.
• Asks.(new) Where you need help: intros, hires, advice.

Send it at the start of the month, reflecting on the one that just closed. Tailor the sections to your business, then keep them identical every time.

A bonus effect

Writing these updates does something for you that has nothing to do with investors.

Once a month you're forced to zoom out. What did you achieve? What did you say you'd do and didn't? Where did the money go?

Every CEO needs that bird's-eye view. The update is the perfect occasion to force you into this habit.

Common mistakes

• Changing your metrics every update. Choose a few KPIs important for your business and stick to those.
• Making it too long and descriptive. One page max, ideally in bullets.
• Sending without permission. Spamming investors who never agreed to this.

A few final words

I built both templates for you: the short one for potential investors, and the full monthly report for once you have them on the cap table.

Start with the short one this month, even if you have no investors yet. Especially if you have no investors yet.

​Grab them here. ​

— Geri

PS: Still building the list of investors to send those updates to? OpenVC is a good place to start, with thousands of funds you can filter by stage, geography and sector. My readers get 20% off with the code GERI20.