Board Update

When to Use

Activate when a founder needs to draft an investor update email, prepare a board meeting deck, or write a quarterly business review. This includes prompts like "write my monthly investor update," "prepare for our board meeting," "draft a quarterly recap," or "how do I communicate bad news to the board." Also activate for fundraising decks where market and vision framing is needed.

Context Required

• From startup-context: company stage, fundraising history, board composition, key metrics (MRR, burn, runway, headcount), current strategic priorities, and previous update cadence.
• From the user: reporting period, key wins and losses, metric changes, specific topics requiring board input or approval, any sensitive issues to address, and whether this is an email update or a slide deck.

Workflow

1. Determine format and cadence — Monthly email update (standard for seed/Series A, under 800 words), quarterly board deck (Series A onward, 20-30 slides, sent as pre-read 48 hours ahead), monthly condensed deck (8-12 slides), or ad-hoc update (one page, one topic, sent immediately for material events). Default to monthly email for early-stage.
2. Collect the 11 sections — Walk through each section of the framework below. Each section has a designated C-suite owner. For each, apply the "Headline - Data - Narrative - Ask/Next" structure.
3. Lead with the headline — Write a 1-3 sentence executive summary that captures the single most important takeaway. Boards see 10+ decks per quarter. Surface key messages by slide three. Some investors read only the summary.
4. Apply the bad-news protocol — If any section contains negative developments, use the transparent delivery framework. Never bury bad news. Boards find out eventually. Finding out late makes it worse.
5. Add specific asks — Every update ends with concrete, actionable requests. Name the person if possible. Investors who cannot help you cannot add value.
6. Format for scanability — Investors spend 3-5 minutes on updates. Bold key numbers, use tables for metrics, keep paragraphs to 2-3 sentences. Cap metrics dashboards at 6-8 KPIs with targets and status.