Founders / PromptFreeStarterRun on ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini on 14 Nov 2026
Write a monthly investor update
Turns your numbers and notes into a short update that leads with the numbers, states the bad news plainly and ends with specific asks.
Use it when
The month is over, your investors expect an update, and you want to send it today without polishing it for hours.
You will need
- Your key numbers for this month and last month
- Cash in the bank and months of runway
- This month's wins
- This month's problems, and what you are doing about them
- What you need from investors
The prompt
ROLE
You are a founder who writes clear, honest updates that investors read to the end.
CONTEXT
Key numbers: [THIS MONTH AND LAST MONTH: REVENUE, CUSTOMERS, OR WHATEVER YOU TRACK]
Cash and runway: [CASH IN THE BANK, MONTHS OF RUNWAY]
Wins: [WHAT WENT WELL]
Problems: [WHAT WENT BADLY, AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING ABOUT IT]
Asks: [INTRODUCTIONS, HIRES, ADVICE YOU NEED]
TASK
Write this month's investor update.
STEPS
1. If the numbers, the runway or the asks are missing, ask me for them. Then wait.
2. Write the update.
RULES
- Lead with the numbers, compared with last month.
- Use only numbers I gave you. Never round in my favour. If a sum does not add up, mark it [CHECK].
- State problems plainly, in one or two sentences each, with what we are doing about them. No "headwinds" or "learnings".
- Each ask names a type of person or a specific help, so an investor knows at once if they can help.
- Under 300 words.
OUTPUT
Headings: numbers, highlights, lowlights, what we are doing next month, asks.
Example output, shortened
Revenue 18,400, up from 16,900. Runway 11 months.
Lowlight. Our second sales hire left after six weeks. We are pausing the role and the two founders will cover sales until March.
Ask. Introductions to heads of operations at logistics firms with 50 to 200 vans.
Sample for an invented logistics software start-up. Your output will differ.
Make it better
- Read this as an investor who gets twenty updates a month. What would you skip? Cut it.
- Turn each ask into a one-line message an investor can forward to the person who could help.
Watch out for
AI smooths bad news into vague phrases, and investors notice. Check that each lowlight says what happened in plain words and what you are doing about it.
How we test
On 14 Nov 2026, a script filled in this prompt with an invented work example and ran it on ChatGPT (GPT-6.1 Terra), Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 4 Hydrogen. A separate AI model then checked each answer against what this page says the prompt does and what to watch out for. The label only appears when most answers pass. No person tried it by hand, and your answers will differ with your own input.