Film-style poster for the The Monthly Update presentation

A guide for founders A guide for founders

How a short monthly update keeps your mentor useful between meetings.

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What this guide covers

One number

Pick one number to track weekly

One growth number with a weekly target makes every update easy to read.

5 to 7% Weekly growth Paul Graham calls good during Y Combinator Startup = Growth, 2012

The template

Use the same template every month

Numbers against last month and target, then highlights, lowlights, lessons and asks.

SubjectOrbital Labs · October update

	This month	Last month	Target
Paying customers	38	31	40
Active teams	142	128	150
Teams lost	3	5	2

HighlightTwo pilots signed LowlightLost our first customer Your adviceTried annual billing: 7 of 20 chose it Our ask30 minutes on our pricing page by Friday

Past advice

Close the loop on past advice

Write what they suggested, what you did and what happened.

You suggested try annual billing
We did offered it to 20 sign-ups
It showed 7 of 20 chose it

Bad months

Send it on bad months too

Send on the same date, even when the numbers fall.

Same date the first Monday of the month
Lowlights included no surprises later
A clear ask what, from whom, by when

Asks that get a yes

Make every ask specific

Say what you need, from whom and by when, so a yes is easy.

Any intros would help. Too vague to act on.
An intro to a procurement lead at a logistics firm, by Friday? Easy to say yes to.

Doing it on Mentornity

Send it through Mentornity

Messages also arrive by email, and notes keep the whole team on the same page.

Message your mentor

Your update arrives in the app and by email.

Notes reach the team

Visible meeting notes are emailed to every participant.

Forms keep the history

A meeting form reopens prefilled, so progress is easy to compare.

Message your mentor

Your update arrives in the app and by email.

Notes reach the team

Visible meeting notes are emailed to every participant.

Meeting notesOrbital Labs · 3 founders

Visible noteEmailed to the participants at once Emailed

Agreed: test annual billing with the next 20 sign-ups.

pricing-test.pdfUp to 10 files

Hidden noteOnly you and the program admins

Forms keep the history

A meeting form reopens prefilled, so progress is easy to compare.

1Message your mentor

2Notes reach the team

Meeting notesOrbital Labs · 3 founders

Visible noteEmailed to the participants at once Emailed

Agreed: test annual billing with the next 20 sign-ups.

pricing-test.pdfUp to 10 files

Hidden noteOnly you and the program admins

3Forms keep the history

Pick your number and your date

Send the first update this month, and use the same template every time.

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