Investor Update Template: What to Send, With 5 One-Page Examples

Every example was made with MakeOnepagers. Each one opens as a template you can edit for free: every word, chart and color.

What is an investor update?

An investor update is a regular report from a company's founders or CEO to the people who have invested in it, or who might. Most startups send one monthly in the early stages and quarterly from Series A onward. Public companies send shareholders a quarterly report that does the same job in a more formal way.

The update has two goals. It keeps investors informed, so nothing surprises them. And it turns them into helpers: an investor who knows exactly what you need can make an introduction the same day.

The 6 parts of an investor update

1. Headline numbers. Three to five metrics, the same ones every time, each against last period or last year. Revenue, customers, retention and cash runway are the usual set.
2. The trend. One chart of your main metric, this year against last.
3. What changed. Two or three wins since the last update, with numbers.
4. What's hard. The biggest problem right now. Leaving it out is the fastest way to lose an investor's trust.
5. The ask. A specific request: an introduction, a hire, advice on one decision.
6. Progress against plan. How far along you are on the year's targets.

An investor update template you can copy

Write it in an hour, send it on the same day each period, and keep last period's numbers beside this period's so investors don't have to look them up.

5 investor update examples

Five updates for five kinds of investor: startup angels, the owners of a small company, a crowd of small investors, limited partners in a fund, and every investor in a quarter that went wrong.

1. Startup quarterly investor update

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A sample startup investor update: the quarter in four numbers, this year's line over last year's, three changes, the ask and progress against plan.

What to copy:

• Four numbers, each against last year. ARR, customers, net retention and payback, with the change in color, so good and bad read at a glance.
• A specific ask. "Two introductions to heads of data platform at Series C companies. That channel closed at 3x the rate of outbound."
• Progress against the plan, including the miss. Enterprise logos at 73% sits right next to ARR at 107%.

Edit for free: startup investor update template.

2. Annual letter to shareholders

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A community-owned winery's year, written for owners who are also customers.

What to copy:

• The dividend as its own block. $4.20 a share, paid December 12, or $5.25 of wine credit: the one number every owner looks for.
• What their money built. Solar on the barn, a second barrel room, 12 acres replanted, each with its result.
• A date to meet. Owners' day on May 15 turns a report into an invitation.

Edit for free: annual shareholder investor update template.

3. Update to crowdfunding investors

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An e-bike maker's sixth update to 2,900 small investors, most of whom are also its customers.

What to copy:

• Where the money went, in dollars and shares. $790K on tooling, $310K on safety testing, $450K on the team, $250K on marketing.
• A numbered update. "No. 6" tells every reader they can find the five before it.
• The questions they will ask, answered. When can I sell my shares, and will there be another round.

Edit for free: crowdfunding investor update template.

4. Real estate fund report to limited partners

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An apartment fund's quarter for its limited partners: occupancy, rent and what they were paid.

What to copy:

• Distributions per $100K invested. $1,725 a quarter per $100K lets every partner work out their own check.
• The refinancing in one line. Riverbend refinanced at 5.4% for seven years, $310K a year less interest.
• Key dates in a table. The next distribution, the K-1 forms, the annual meeting and when the sale window opens.

Edit for free: real estate fund investor update template.

5. The update for a hard quarter

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A missed quarter told straight: the gap, the cause, the cuts and the plan.

What to copy:

• The miss in the first block. $1.3M signed against $2.4M planned, with the reason beside it: two chain deals slipped to Q1.
• What you cut, and what it buys. Burn from $610K to $470K a month takes runway from 15 to 22 months with no new money.
• What is still working. 99% of customers renewing and $1.9M of spoilage saved, so the bad news has a floor.

Edit for free: down quarter investor update template.

How often should you send an investor update?

Monthly at pre-seed and seed, when a lot changes every month. Quarterly from Series A onward, or for a public company's shareholders. Weekly or every two weeks while you're actively raising, to the investors in your pipeline. Whatever you choose, keep to it. A missed update tells investors more than a bad one.

How to write an investor update in 5 steps

1. Pull the same metrics as last time. Same order, with last period beside each.
2. Write two or three wins. Each with a number: "Enterprise tier launched in October, 22 signed."
3. Write the hard part honestly. The biggest problem and what you're doing about it.
4. Make one specific ask. A name, a role, a decision. "Any help appreciated" gets no help.
5. Send it on the same day as last time. Put the next date in your calendar when you hit send.

If your numbers are already in a spreadsheet, a board deck or last quarter's update, MakeOnepagers reads the file and builds the one-page update from what's in it, which you then edit.

Investor update mistakes

• Only sending good news. Investors find out about problems eventually. Hearing it from you first keeps their trust.
• Changing the metrics. Swapping the numbers each time looks like hiding the ones that went down.
• No ask. Investors want to help. Tell them how.
• Going quiet. Skipping an update during a hard month is the one thing investors remember.
• Too long. One page, read in two minutes. Detail goes in the data room.