An investor update email is the simplest way to stay in touch between rounds. A short, regular note keeps current investors informed, gives your network something concrete to act on, and keeps investors who passed close enough to look again when your numbers change.
An investor update email is a short, recurring message in which a founder reports progress, problems, and needs to the people who have backed the company or might back it later. Most founders send one monthly or quarterly, using the same structure each time so readers can track change at a glance.
A good update does three jobs. It shows momentum, it is honest about what is hard, and it makes one clear request.
Many founders send updates only to their cap table. Instead, think of the list in three groups, each with a slightly different version of the email.
Your existing investors get the full update, including financials, runway, and the problems you are working through. They have a stake in your success and, often, the ability to help.
In a survey of 885 venture capitalists at 681 firms, Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev (2020) found that 72% said they help portfolio companies connect with other investors and 69% said they help connect them with customers. Those figures are self-reported by VCs, so treat them as what investors say they offer. Still, a specific ask in your update gives that help somewhere to go.
An investor who said no is one of the most useful people to keep on your list. A pass usually reflects one point in time: this round, this stage, this set of numbers. If you replied calmly and offered to keep them posted, a short update is the natural next step.
Research on reconnecting supports the idea that old contacts keep their value. In a study of Executive MBA students asked to consult contacts they had fallen out of touch with about a work project, Levin, Walter, and Murnighan (2011) found that advice from these dormant ties compared favorably with advice from current ties.
The study looked at formerly close contacts, not investors met a few times, so the parallel is loose. The practical lesson still holds: prior contact gives your next message a head start.
Send this group a lighter version. Leave out sensitive financial details and lead with progress that speaks to why they passed.
Some founders add people they hope to raise from later, plus a few well-connected operators and angels. Regular updates let these readers watch your company improve over months instead of judging it in one meeting. That slow build of trust is the idea behind treating investor relationships as a flywheel, not a scramble at the start of each round.
Connectors matter because many investors hear about deals through people they trust. An easy-to-forward update can reach investors you have never met.
Add people only with their permission. A quick "Would you like my monthly update?" is enough.
Keep the same sections in the same order every time. Consistency lets readers compare this month with last month in seconds.
Open with one or two sentences on how the period went. "Strong month: revenue up, two key hires closed, churn still higher than we want." Busy readers may stop here, so make it count.
Pick three to five numbers that show the health of your business, such as revenue, growth rate, burn, and runway. Report them the same way each time, with the change from the last update. Switching metrics from month to month makes readers wonder what you are hiding.
List a few wins, then the problems. Founders often skip the bad news, but leaving it out makes the good news harder to believe. A short lowlight with your plan ("Churn rose to 4%. We are interviewing every churned customer this month.") shows you are on top of it.
Report key hires, departures, and open roles. Investors weigh the team heavily: in the same Gompers survey, 47% of VC firms named the management team as the most important factor in their investment decisions. Team changes deserve their own line.
End with one or two concrete requests. "Intro to a head of procurement at a regional hospital system" is easy to act on. "Let us know if you can help" is easy to ignore.
Subject: Acme update, March: first enterprise customers
Summary: Our best month so far. We signed our first two enterprise customers and extended runway to 20 months.
Metrics: MRR $48K (up 12%). Burn $95K. Runway: 20 months.
Wins: Two enterprise contracts signed. New onboarding flow cut setup time in half.
Lowlights: Our sales hire fell through. We are restarting the search.
Team: Priya joined as head of engineering.
Ask: Introductions to VPs of operations at logistics companies with 500+ employees.
The numbers above are illustrative.
Monthly works well for early-stage companies, where a lot changes quickly. Quarterly suits later-stage companies or quieter periods. Choose the cadence you can keep up with.
Consistency matters more than frequency. An update that arrives on the same day each month builds a track record. Sporadic updates that appear only when news is good, or when you are about to raise, tend to read as selective.
The update works best when it answers the reason they said no. That only happens if you wrote the reason down at the time.
After each pass, record a few notes while the meeting is fresh: who you met, the stated reason in their words, and any milestone they named. "Too early" from an investor who backs your stage can point to a specific bar, such as a few paying enterprise customers.
When you hit that bar, say so directly. Add a short personal line above the standard update: "When we met in March, you wanted to see enterprise traction. We've since signed our first two enterprise customers." That line turns a general update into a reason to talk.
Ask for a new meeting only when something material has changed: you hit the milestone they named, made a key hire, closed a major customer or opened your next round. Some passes are final, such as a thesis or portfolio conflict. Keep those investors on the list if they agreed, but do not push.
Include a one-line summary, the same three to five key metrics each time, a few wins, honest lowlights, team news, and one specific ask. Keep the sections in the same order every time so readers can compare periods quickly.
Monthly works well for most early-stage startups, and quarterly suits later-stage companies or slower periods. Choose a schedule you can keep. Consistent updates build more trust than occasional ones sent only when the news is good.
Yes, if they agreed to receive them. A pass often reflects timing or stage, and regular updates let the investor see progress without being asked for a decision. Send a lighter version without sensitive financial detail.
Keep it short enough to read on a phone in a couple of minutes. Short sections, plain numbers, and a clear summary at the top respect the reader's time and make it more likely they will read to the end.
Yes. Share problems along with your plan to address them. Leaving out bad news makes the good news harder to believe, and investors cannot help with a problem they do not know about.
An update only lands when you remember what each investor needed to see. Goodword lets you debrief after each investor conversation and can surface the follow-ups you promised with a draft ready to send. Start your free trial and bring that context into your next investor update.
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