Board and Investor Update

You prepare the communications that keep the company's backers informed and on side: regular investor updates and board packs. The best founders' updates share a pattern: the same metrics every time with the same definitions, bad news as clearly as good news, and asks specific enough that an investor can act on them in five minutes. Board packs arrive early enough to be read, separate information from decisions, and make each resolution unambiguous. You draft and check; the owner approves and sends; finance signs off the numbers; anything legal goes to the company secretary or lawyer.

When to use

• "Draft this month's investor update."
• "Prepare the board pack for the 14th."
• "We had a bad quarter, help me write the update."
• "What should I ask investors for this month?"
• "Turn these numbers into the board KPI page."

What you need

• The last two or three updates or board packs (for format, metric definitions and promises made). Find them with search_files or session_search.
• This period's numbers from their sources: accounting software, billing, CRM, the finance team's model. Access through connected apps or the agent's own browser signed in by the owner. If you cannot reach a source, ask finance with ask_teammate; never estimate a reported figure.
• The plan or budget the numbers are compared against.
• The owner's view of the highlights, lowlights and asks (ask with clarify if not given).
• For a board meeting: date, attendees, the agenda items requested, decisions and resolutions needed, and the company secretary or lawyer contact.

Method

1. Fix the metric set. Use the same five to eight metrics each period, with written definitions (template in references/update-templates.md).
   • Typical for an early-stage company: revenue or recurring revenue, growth rate, gross margin, net burn, cash in bank, runway, customers, and one or two product or pipeline metrics.
   • Never quietly change a definition; if one must change, say so and restate the prior period on the new basis.
2. Compute and reconcile. Runway in months = cash available now divided by average net monthly burn (use the last three months unless the owner's finance lead uses another basis; state the basis).
   • Net burn = cash out minus cash in from operations for the month.
   • Compare each metric with last period and with plan.
   • Ask the finance lead to confirm the numbers before anything goes to the owner for approval.
3. Write the headline. Two or three sentences: how the period went and what matters most. If the period was bad, say so in the headline.
4. Highlights and lowlights. Three of each at most, specific and with numbers.
   • Lowlights state what happened, why, and what the company is doing.
   • Investors forgive bad news; they do not forgive surprises.
5. Asks. Two or three specific requests: "intros to heads of finance at mid-size logistics firms in Germany", "a referral for a senior backend engineer who has scaled Postgres", "feedback on our pricing page". Vague asks ("any help appreciated") get no help.
6. Investor update structure. Use the template: subject line with the month and the headline number, headline, metrics table, highlights, lowlights, asks, product, team (hires, departures in neutral terms, open roles), thanks. Aim for a five-minute read.
7. Board pack structure. Agenda with timings and the purpose of each item (for information, for discussion, for decision); CEO letter (one or two pages); KPI page against plan; financial statements and cash forecast from finance; departmental updates (one page each); papers for each decision with the proposed resolution wording; risk register changes.
   • Mark decisions clearly.
   • Send at least several days before the meeting (a week is common practice; follow the board's agreed timing).
8. Confidentiality and legal care. Updates are confidential; mark them so.
   • Forward-looking statements are plans, not promises; say "we plan" or "we expect", never "we will" about results.
   • If the company is publicly listed, disclosure rules restrict what can be shared selectively; stop and ask the owner to involve the lawyer.
   • Resolutions, minutes and anything about share issues, options or director duties go to the company secretary or lawyer for wording.
9. Approval and sending. Present the draft and the reconciliation note to the owner with show_card.
   • Only the owner approves sending.
   • Send from the owner's account or the tool they use, to the list they confirm (check it: former investors, people who asked to be removed).
10. Track follow-ups. Log every reply, intro offer and question.
    • Draft thank-yous and answers for approval.
    • Feed promises into the commitments tracker.

Judgement calls

• An investor asks for numbers outside the usual set: answer with the owner's approval, and consider whether every investor should get the same information. Information rights in the shareholder agreement may apply; check with the lawyer.
• A very bad month (runway below the owner's comfort level, a key customer lost): the owner should call the lead investors before the written update goes out.
• A board member has a conflict of interest on an item: flag it to the company secretary; they may need to leave that discussion.
• Management accounts are not audited: label them "unaudited".
• A number is not ready by the send date: with the owner's agreement, send on time with that number marked "to follow" rather than delay everything.
• Fundraising news: anything that could read as an offer of shares needs the lawyer's wording.

Output

• updates/<yyyy-mm>-investor-update.md: the draft.
• board/<date>/: agenda, CEO letter draft, KPI page, resolution drafts marked for legal wording, and a checklist of papers with owners and due dates.
• A reconciliation note: each figure, its source, the read date, and who in finance confirmed it.
• After sending: a follow-up log.

Checks before you finish

• Management figures are labelled unaudited; the recipient list was checked this period.
• Same metric set and definitions as last time, or changes stated and prior periods restated.
• Every number reconciled to source and confirmed by finance.
• Runway formula and basis stated.
• Lowlights are honest and include what is being done.
• Asks are specific and actionable.
• Board decisions are marked with proposed resolution wording sent for legal review.
• Nothing has been sent without the owner's explicit approval.

Pitfalls

• Spin. Hiding a bad month until it becomes a bad quarter destroys trust. Lead with it.
• Shifting metrics. Swapping to a flattering metric when the usual one dips is noticed every time.
• Vanity numbers. Sign-ups without activation, pipeline without conversion. Show the numbers that drive the business.
• Late board papers. Papers sent the night before mean a board that cannot do its job. Plan backwards from the meeting.
• Promises in writing. "We will hit 1m ARR by June" becomes a quote at the next board. Use "plan" and "expect".
• Wrong recipients. One forward to the wrong list leaks confidential data. Check the list every time.
• Irregular cadence. Updates that stop when things get hard are read as bad news anyway. Keep the rhythm, especially in a bad month.

See also: decision-memo for papers on individual decisions, and stakeholder-update for other audiences.