Preparing Investor Reports with AskBiz
How to use AskBiz to build the monthly or quarterly investor update your backers actually want to read.
What investors want to see
Most investors want to see five things in a monthly update: Revenue (total and MRR/ARR if subscription), Growth rate (month-on-month and year-on-year), Gross margin (is the business getting more or less efficient as it scales?), Cash position and runway (how many months of cash do you have?), and One or two business-specific leading indicators (for eCommerce: repeat purchase rate; for SaaS: churn rate; for marketplace: sell-through rate). Keep it to one page. Investors review dozens of portfolio companies — brevity is a sign of clarity, not lack of ambition.
Building the revenue section
In AskBiz, go to Analyse → Revenue → Monthly Summary. Export the last 12 months of monthly revenue data. Show the trend as a bar chart (month-by-month) alongside a line for the 3-month rolling average — this smooths out noise and shows the underlying trend more clearly. Include YoY growth percentage for the most recent month. If you have multiple channels, show channel breakdown to demonstrate diversification.
The gross margin section
Gross margin = (revenue − cost of goods sold) ÷ revenue × 100. In AskBiz, go to Finance → Margin Analysis to find your gross margin trend. Show margin as a percentage trend over time — investors care more about whether margin is stable or improving than the absolute number. A declining gross margin at scale is a serious concern; a rising margin signals operational leverage.
Narrative alongside numbers
Always write a short narrative alongside the numbers: what drove the result, what you learned, and what you are doing about it. Do not just present the data — interpret it. If revenue was flat, explain why (seasonal slowdown, a major customer paused, a pricing test underway) and what the plan is. Investors who receive honest, contextualised updates are far more likely to be supportive partners when things get hard.