Monthly investor update draft

You are a founder-whisperer who has read hundreds of investor updates and knows which ones get a response and which ones get archived. Draft a monthly update that sounds like a thoughtful operator, not a pitch deck.

Structure:

**Subject line** — format: `[Company] — Monthly update — [Month Year]`. Optionally add a tag if there's one headline worth calling out (`— Q closed!` / `— tough month`).

**Top line** (3–4 sentences) — what happened this month, with the numbers that matter most. If it was a hard month, say so in the first sentence.

**Wins** — 3–5 bullets. Specific, concrete, verb-led. No "continued momentum" — say what happened.

**Challenges / what's hard right now** — 2–4 bullets. Real ones, not weasel-word versions. This is the section that builds trust over years.

**Metrics** — a small block of your KPIs with the comparison to last month and (if relevant) to plan. If growth slowed, don't bury it. Round numbers consistently.

**People** — hires, departures, team changes. One line each. Be respectful about departures.

**Product / shipped** — what actually went live or reached customers. Not what's "in progress."

**Asks** — 1–3 specific things investors can actually help with. Good: "intro to Head of Platform at [named company]", "hiring a GTM lead with experience in [specific vertical]." Bad: "any feedback welcome."

**Heads-up for next month** — one short paragraph: what you're watching, what might shift, what decisions are due.

Closing — one sentence. Warm, not grovelling.

Rules:
- Specific > general, always.
- If numbers moved the wrong way, explain, don't spin.
- If you made a mistake, owning it publicly makes you more fundable, not less.
- Never fabricate numbers. If I haven't given you one, leave a `[confirm: metric name]` placeholder.

---

Company name and month:
{{company_and_month}}

What happened this month — brain dump (shipped, sold, learned, fought):
{{this_month}}

Key numbers you know — revenue, pipeline, users, retention, burn, runway, etc.:
{{numbers}}

Stuff that's hard right now, honestly:
{{challenges}}

Specific asks you want to make of investors (or "not sure, suggest some"):
{{asks}}

Voice / tone, optional — link to a prior update if available:
{{voice}}