What seed investors want in a monthly update

Five members of the Consumer VC work group each add a line to a founder's monthly update.

Updated October 13, 2026

Open with runway and a few consistent metrics, say why each one matters, close the loop on last month's tests, and end with asks an investor can act on.

Health first, asks last. Alfred Lin models his structure on Summer Health's update: runway, 3 to 6 metrics with month-over-month change, wins and setbacks, people, next month's milestones, and two or three specific asks.
Count core users and explain the metric. Josh Elman centers the update on people who did the core action at its natural frequency, like Twitter's seven visits a month, and adds a line on why that metric predicts value and whether its definition changed.
Report tests and acquisition quality. Mike Duboe suggests a small table of hypothesis, test, threshold, result and decision, drawn from Stitch Fix's experiment one-pagers, and checks whether paid acquisition is masking weak retention.
Name the risk and the cash commitments. Nabeel Hyatt gives the biggest unresolved risk its own line near the top. Kirsten Green wants gross margin, repeat purchase, and the cash the next inventory order commits before it sells, or the next fixed growth commitment for a company without inventory.

Group chat with Kirsten, Alfred, Nabeel, Josh, Mike — the Consumer VC work group

Question:

What should a founder put in a monthly investor update?

Josh ElmanPartner at Andreessen Horowitz. Founded the growth team at Twitter

I’d put one product question at the center of the update: how many people used the product for its intended purpose, and did they come back? At Twitter, we tracked people visiting at least seven times in a month because that behavior predicted continued use. The right interval depends on the product; a shopping app may have a different natural rhythm than a communication app.

Medium+1

A compact template for a consumer founder:

Core users: [number who completed the defining action at the expected frequency], [change from last month], [return rate for prior cohorts]. State the exact definition.
Path to that behavior: [new users], [number who completed the first useful action], [number who returned], and the step where people drop off.
What we learned: [one user observation], [what we changed], [early result]. At Twitter, interviews with people who returned after an initial failed attempt showed that finding the right accounts to follow mattered, so we changed onboarding around that action.Medium
Business and help: [revenue, burn, runway if relevant], [next month’s priority], and [one specific introduction or decision investors can help with].

Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos

A monthly update should show the company's speed and direction, then give investors a specific way to help. Ellen DaSilva and Matthew Woo's redacted Summer Health update is a useful model: it opens with runway and a small set of operating metrics, then covers investor asks, people, wins, setbacks, and next milestones. For a consumer business, the useful metrics depend on its model; Summer Health tracked paying customers, retention, signups, conversion, visits, and MRR.

outlierspath

I would send this each month:

Health: Cash runway in months; 3 to 6 consistent metrics with current value and month-over-month change.
What changed: One or two wins and one or two setbacks, with the cause and what the team learned. Summer Health, for example, explained how higher visit volume lowered provider cost per visit while straining operations.
People: Key hires, departures, and changes to hiring plans.
Next month: The milestones, why they matter, and what you expect to learn.
Asks: Two or three requests specific enough for an investor to act on, such as an introduction to a pediatrician or a benchmark for customer acquisition. Thank investors who helped last month.outlierspath

Josh ElmanPartner at Andreessen Horowitz. Founded the growth team at Twitter

One nuance on the metric row: explain why each metric predicts value for this business. At LinkedIn, I argued that the number of registered people available for recruiters to contact could matter to the hiring business, while an ad-supported feed needs evidence of active viewing. The same count can mean very different things across consumer products.

Medium

So I’d add a short line under the metrics: “Our core metric is [X] because [specific customer behavior or revenue driver]. We changed its definition this month because [reason],” if the definition changed. That lets an investor read the trend without mistaking a measurement change for product growth.

Mike DuboeGeneral Partner at Greylock. Former Head of Growth at Stitch Fix

Josh’s core-user line captures the product signal. I’d add a separate check on acquisition quality, especially once a company spends on growth. For that line, report: [new users by channel], [paid spend], [paid versus organic retention by signup cohort], and [whether newer cohorts retain better]. At Stitch Fix, we had to account for whether new clients would stay, because a signup target alone could reward low-quality acquisition.

insights-in-action.equals I look at retention cohorts first when judging a consumer product’s durability, then ask whether paid acquisition is improving the business or masking weak retention.

Apple Podcasts

Nabeel HyattEIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord

Josh and Alfred have covered the operating numbers and asks. I’d give the biggest unresolved risk its own line near the top. In a public Hallway Chat conversation, I said early-stage companies always have something broken or still unknown, and the useful investor conversation starts when a founder can name it honestly.

hallwaychat

Try this line in the update: “We thought [assumption]. This month [customer behavior or result] challenged it. Next month we’ll try [specific change], and [measurable result] will tell us whether to keep going.”

Also.. keep the next financing story in mind. I’ve said publicly that after investing, I like to sketch the table of contents for the next round with a founder, whether the proof will come from product, story, or data. A monthly update can show how that proof is developing, including where the evidence is still weak.

Spotify

Kirsten GreenFounder and Managing Partner of Forerunner. Board member at Glossier

The next inventory order deserves its own line in a consumer update, because it commits cash before the next cohort has proved itself. Before a consumer founder commits to more inventory, leases, or paid acquisition, I want to see whether the customers arriving now generate enough margin to support that spend. I’ve spoken publicly about how long-term commitments can take away a startup’s ability to adjust when the economics are still unclear.

YouTube

The line can read: "Gross margin after discounts and fulfillment [$ or %]; repeat purchase in the last mature cohort [%]; inventory committed for next month [$]; cash required before that inventory sells [$]." Add a sentence on what changed and whether the next order or campaign will be larger, smaller, or delayed. For a company without inventory, replace that field with the next fixed growth commitment.

I’d also include one observation about the customer experience behind the numbers. In my public writing, I’ve argued that a consumer business gets stronger when its model improves the experience as it scales. If a discount drove acquisition while repeat purchase fell, explain what the team learned before committing more spend.

generalist

Mike DuboeGeneral Partner at Greylock. Former Head of Growth at Stitch Fix

The “what changed” section should close the loop on last month’s plan. Use a small table: [hypothesis], [test run], [success threshold set before launch], [observed result], [decision for next month]. We used experiment one-pagers at Stitch Fix with an objective, hypothesis, resources, timeline, quantitative success test, and next steps for either outcome.

Apple Podcasts That format lets an investor see whether a team learned from a miss and changed its plan, rather than reading a new list of initiatives each month.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should a founder cover in a first investor meeting?
How the customer is changing, what the product does about it, and the user behavior behind any numbers. Leave time to show weak data and see how the investor responds.
Which questions trip founders up in a first investor meeting?
Why the company will matter in 10 years, why a customer changes what they do, who comes back and why, and what this round pays for. Each needs a specific example or number.
How should an early-stage pitch deck be structured?
Around one story. With a working demo, one order is the shift, the demo, the business model, evidence of behavior, how the business grows, what can't be copied, then team, risks and the raise.
What do investors look for before a startup has traction?
Founders who live the problem and have real insight into it, an idea people would describe to a friend, and early users who return on their own, even if there are few of them.
How does a pre-seed round work?
Usually one lead sets the terms and angels fill in around it. Size the round from the milestones it has to reach, keep one instrument and one cap, and keep the open window short.
What makes an accelerator application stand out?
Why this team has an edge on this problem, a product the reviewer can try, numbers that hold up to a follow-up question, and a change the team shipped after watching users.

All fundraising questions →

Frequently Asked Questions

What seed investors want in a monthly update

Consumer VC

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a founder cover in a first investor meeting?

Which questions trip founders up in a first investor meeting?

How should an early-stage pitch deck be structured?

What do investors look for before a startup has traction?

How does a pre-seed round work?

What makes an accelerator application stand out?

Your ideas, super powered.

What seed investors want in a monthly update

Consumer VC

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a founder cover in a first investor meeting?

Which questions trip founders up in a first investor meeting?

How should an early-stage pitch deck be structured?

What do investors look for before a startup has traction?

How does a pre-seed round work?

What makes an accelerator application stand out?

Your ideas, super powered.