drop a deck →Template · 26 Oct 2026
Investor update. Numbers. Problems. Asks.
Your monthly investor update should explain what changed and where help matters. Put the useful part in the email. Supporting slides are optional, not homework.
This template is for existing investors and people who asked for updates. It is not a cold fundraising email. For that, use the pitch deck email templates.
The monthly email
Select and copy the text below. Replace every bracket and delete sections that add nothing. The numbers are placeholders, not sample results.
Subject: [Company] — investor update — [month year] Hi [first name], This month: [main progress]. Our biggest concern is [risk]. Next month, we will focus on [priority]. Help needed - [Specific introduction or expertise]. [Who fits, why, and how to help]. - [Second ask, only if needed]. Numbers — [reporting period] - [Core metric]: [current] vs [previous]; [change and explanation]. - [Core metric]: [current] vs [previous]; [change and explanation]. - [Core metric]: [current] vs [previous]; [change and explanation]. - Cash: [$balance as of date]. - Monthly net burn: [$amount and period]. - Estimated runway: [months, assumptions and upcoming costs]. Progress - [Result, evidence and why it matters]. - [Material team or product change, if relevant]. Setbacks - [What missed the plan, why, and what we are changing]. Next month - [One priority, target and owner]. Supporting slides, if useful: [link or remove this line] Thanks to [person, with permission] for [specific help]. [Your name]
Before you send
Keep the same definitions
Pick 3 metrics that explain your business. Use the same definitions and reporting periods each month. Separate signed contracts, collected revenue and pipeline; they are not interchangeable.
Explain the comparison
Show last month beside this month. Label missing history instead of filling it in. If the baseline is 0, show the absolute change rather than a percentage.
State the cash assumptions
A rough runway estimate divides available cash by monthly net burn. That estimate assumes burn stays constant. Explain planned hiring, annual bills or other costs that change the picture.
Make the ask answerable
Replace “any customer introductions?” with the role, company type and problem you need help reaching. Include a short forwardable note. An investor should know who could help without another meeting.
Keep setbacks in the main email. Say what happened, what you learned and what changes next. A link to a longer deck should not hide bad news.
This structure draws on Ryan Durkin's investor-update guidance. Adapt it to your business and your investors' reporting requirements. No template guarantees replies or funding.
Email first. Slides if needed.
If the update fits in an email, send the email. Deckhand does not track email reads. You do not need a deck for a short monthly note.
Use supporting slides for charts, product changes or detail that would make the email hard to scan. Date the PDF and upload each month as a separate deck. Deckhand gives each upload a new link; it does not replace previous slides automatically.
Free links ask readers for an email before opening. Deckhand Lifetime adds named links without that email wall. Neither a typed email nor a named link verifies who is holding the browser.
An open records a reading session, not agreement with your plans. No open does not mean no interest. They may have read the email without needing the slides.
Leave unnecessary personal or sensitive customer details out. Deckhand offers no original PDF download, but readers can save page images or screenshots. For format trade-offs, read PDF or tracked link.
Send the update.
Track the slides.
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