An investor update is a structured periodic communication from a startup to its investor list. The standard format includes: subject line with a KPI prefix, headline metric and one-sentence narrative, asks (with specific names), KPI table (ARR, growth, burn, runway), highlights, lowlights, hires, and roadmap snippet.
Monthly cadence outperforms quarterly for early-stage companies (seed through Series A). Updates that include candid lowlights, asks placed in the first 25% of the document, and specific-name introductions get 3-6x the reply rate of generic updates.
The investor's read pattern is meaningful: investors who consistently open updates respond faster when the next round opens; investors who go silent are signaling they likely won't participate.