investor_update_writing v1.0.0

name: "investor_update_writing" description: "Draft monthly startup investor updates that hold confidence: metrics tables, honest lowlights, and specific asks. Triggers when a founder needs an investor update email, monthly KPIs writeup, or asks how to communicate bad news to investors."

Investor Update Writing

Purpose

Turn a month's raw facts into a 350-500 word investor update that an investor reads in full. The email has one job: make current and prospective investors never have to ask how things are going. Written the right way, a consistent update stream converts "not yet" investors into a faster next round, because nine months of watched numbers mean far less diligence.

Workflow

1. Collect the month's raw facts first. Ask the founder (or take their dump) for: MRR/ARR, burn, cash in bank, headcount, north-star metric, top 3 wins, top 1-2 problems, top 1-3 asks, next month's top 3 priorities. Do not draft until you have real numbers. Never invent a metric.

1. Build the metrics table. Use bin/metrics_table.py with a JSON file of this month's and last month's numbers. It renders a table with MoM deltas. See references/metrics-builder.md for per-business-model metric sets (SaaS, marketplace, consumer, hardware, AI/API). Pick the 5-7 metrics that matter for THIS company and keep the same set every month. Never drop a metric because the number went down.

1. Write the TL;DR. Three bullets: was it a good month, the one number that proves it, the one thing you need. This is the email-preview-pane copy; an investor scanning on a phone reads the subject, TL;DR, and first table, then decides whether to continue.

1. Write each section per the template in assets/monthly-update-template.md, in this order: Subject line, TL;DR, Metrics table, Highlights (with a "so what" on each line: a signed customer, a shipped feature, a hire), Lowlights (cause + fix already underway + date), Asks, Cash and runway, Team, Thank-yous. See the template for line-level rules.

1. Frame the hard news honestly, then hold the format. Report every lowlight with its cause and the fix in motion. Never write a long rambling paragraph to explain bad news; same structured sections in good months and bad months. A format change signals panic louder than the numbers do.

1. Check the output contract below, then deliver the full email as plain text the founder can paste and send.

Output Contract

• Subject: [Company] Investor Update [Month Year]. Same format every month; clear and boring wins.
• 350-500 words of body. Over 550, link a supplement instead of adding words.
• One markdown table: metric, this month, last month, MoM change. Bold the key numbers.
• 1-2 highlights, each with the "so what". 1-2 lowlights, each with cause + fix + date.
• Asks numbered, specific, and forwardable: the role to intro, the company name, the exact blurb text. An investor should be able to act on every ask without replying to ask what you meant.
• Cash: dollars in bank, last month's net burn, months of runway at that burn, zero-cash date. Buried runway numbers are read as hidden ones.
• Close with named thank-yous for investors who helped last month and what it led to.

Operating Rules

1. Real numbers or nothing. If a metric is missing, write "not tracked this month" or ask the founder. Never estimate, never round up to flatter.
2. No startup clichés in the copy. Ban: "crushing it," "hockey stick," "10x," "excited to announce," and anything a press release would say. Confident but grounded, first person.
3. Bad months get the same shape as good months. Do not skip the update, do not restructure, do not over-explain. Investors read silence as trouble.
4. Every claim an investor could diligence goes in the metrics table or the highlights, not the TL;DR. TL;DR is summary, not new information.
5. Thank-yous are mandatory. They are the section that makes next month's asks work.
6. Send-day discipline is part of the skill. If the founder asks when to send: same day each month, Tue-Thu, 8-10am recipient time. If they ask about pre-raise cadence: start sharing monthly updates with prospective investors months before the raise, with the Last Month's Goal / Outcome / Next Month's Goal lines (see template) so investors watch you execute.