What Should Be in an Investor Report? (The 6-Section Standard)
- Business highlights — The 2 to 3 things that moved the needle this month.
- Key metrics — ARR, MRR, burn rate, runway, pipeline. Same metrics every month.
- Progress vs. last update — What you said you would do. What you actually did.
- What is going wrong — At least one challenge. Investors who only hear good news stop trusting.
- What you need — Specific asks: intros, advice, help with a hire.
- Next 30 days — Three to five specific commitments.
The Financial Metrics Section — How to Make It Automatic
The financial metrics section requires pulling ARR, MRR, burn, and runway from accounting software or spreadsheets every month. This manual round-trip is tedious and error-prone. Coreworks connects to your financial data source and generates this section automatically.
Investor Report Best Practices
- Send it on the same day every month — consistency signals operational maturity.
- Keep it under 500 words of text — investors read a lot.
- Always include a specific ask — updates without asks are just information.
- Use the same metric definitions every month.
- Send it even when the month was bad.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I send investor reports?
Monthly updates are ideal for most startups. They keep investors informed and demonstrate operational consistency. Quarterly is acceptable for later-stage companies.
What metrics should I include in an investor report?
Include ARR, MRR, burn rate, runway, pipeline, and key milestones. Use the same metrics every month so investors can track trends.
How long should an investor report be?
Keep it under 500 words of text. Investors read a lot — get to the numbers fast and make every sentence count.
Can investor reports be generated automatically from financial data?
Yes. Coreworks connects to your financial data sources and generates investor reports automatically, with every number traceable to its source.
Monthly investor update in 10 minutes, not 4 hours.
100 teams max. Founding cohort pricing locked in permanently.
Co-founder & CEO, Coreworks.ai
Previously co-founded Unbxd, which grew to 300+ enterprise customers. Built Coreworks after watching teams lose days to manual data assembly.