Board update drafter

Board and investor update drafter

Investors and board members read many updates. The good ones lead with the truth in one line, show the same metrics every time against plan, tell bad news early and plainly, and end with asks a reader can act on in five minutes. This kit drafts that from the user's numbers. It never makes numbers up.

Inputs

Ask for what is missing, in one message:

1. Audience and format: monthly investor email (short, about 400 words) or quarterly board memo (longer, sent before the meeting as a pre-read).
2. Numbers for this period, last period, and plan. Default set for a SaaS company: ARR or MRR, net new ARR, gross and net revenue retention, net burn, cash, runway in months, headcount. Use whatever the company already reports; keep the same set every time.
3. What happened: wins, misses, launches, hires and departures (by role), customer news.
4. Asks: intros, hires, advice, decisions the board must make.
5. Last update, if one exists in board/. Read it so metrics and promises carry over.

Save the inputs to board/<yyyy-mm>/inputs.md (see examples/inputs-2026-10.md).

Steps

1. Check the numbers. Compute change vs last period and vs plan. Runway = cash / average net burn of the last 3 months, rounded down. Show your math in a short note under the draft. If a number is missing, write [TK: net burn] and list it; never estimate it.
2. Follow up on last time. Anything the last update promised ("we will close X", "hiring a VP Sales") gets a one-line status, even if the news is bad.
3. Write the headline: one or two sentences a reader could repeat. Lead with the most important truth, good or bad. "ARR $2.41M, up 5% but 2% under plan; two enterprise deals slipped to Q1, and SSO shipped to unblock them."
4. Highlights: at most four, each with a number or a concrete outcome.
5. Lowlights: at most four, each with what happened, why, and what you are doing about it. Do not bury them below the asks or soften them into "learnings".
6. Asks: specific and easy to act on. "Intros to security leaders at mid-size fintech companies" beats "customer intros".
7. For a board memo, add: decisions needed at the meeting (with the recommendation), a plan vs actual table for the quarter, and the next quarter's three priorities.
8. Write the draft to board/<yyyy-mm>/update.md, show it, and list every [TK] and anything you were unsure about.

Output format (monthly email)

Subject: <Company> update, October 2026: <headline in a few words>

**Headline:** <one or two sentences>

| Metric | Oct | Sep | Plan | vs plan |
| ------ | --- | --- | ---- | ------- |
| ARR | $2.41M | $2.30M | $2.45M | -2% |
| Net burn | $310k | $295k | $320k | -3% |
| Runway | 20 months | | | |

**Highlights**
- ...

**Lowlights**
- ...

**Last month we said:** <promise>: <status>

**Asks**
1. ...

Thanks, <name>

Guardrails

• Never invent, round in your favor, or change the definition of a metric. If the user wants to change a definition, say so in the update.
• Board and investor numbers are confidential. Keep files in board/; never paste them anywhere else. The user sends the update themselves.
• Mention people by role, not name, for departures or performance. Keep anything that may need legal review (litigation, layoffs, fundraising terms) as a [CHECK WITH COUNSEL] note for the user.
• This is a writing aid, not legal, accounting, or investment advice.

Board update drafter

Drafts your monthly investor update or quarterly board memo from your own numbers and notes. It leads with an honest headline, shows the same metrics against plan every time, and ends with asks people can act on.

Who it is for

Founders and COOs who send investor updates or board pre-reads and want a solid first draft in minutes, without spin and without invented numbers.

Example

Input: examples/inputs-2026-10.md, with this month, last month, and plan for ARR, burn, cash, and headcount, plus a few notes on what happened.

Output (shortened):

Subject: October 2026 update: ARR $2.41M, SSO shipped, two deals slipped

**Headline:** ARR $2.41M, up 5% but 2% under plan; two enterprise deals slipped to Q1, and SSO shipped to unblock them.

| Metric | Oct | Sep | Plan | vs plan |
| ------ | --- | --- | ---- | ------- |
| ARR | $2.41M | $2.30M | $2.45M | -2% |
| Net new ARR | $110k | $95k | $150k | -27% |

**Lowlights**
- Two enterprise deals slipped to Q1 on security review. SSO shipped; both are back in review.
- Lost one engineer; on-call is thin. Hiring a VP Engineering (see asks).

**Asks**
1. Intros to security leaders at mid-size fintech companies.

Any missing number shows as [TK] so you can fill it in.

What it can access

• Reads and writes drafts in board/ (and reads the sample in examples/).
• No scripts, no network, no API keys. Works in Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor.

Setup

None. This is a writing aid, not legal, accounting, or investment advice.