Aestus-native

The investor update, written from your own records

Drafts the monthly update from your goals, shipped work, spend and warehouse, computes every figure from a record, and sends nothing until you approve it.

Join the waitlist See what it produces

Monthly, every figure cited

Write the investor update

Who it is for: Founders and chiefs of staff who write the monthly update by hand.
What starts it: 09:00 on the 3rd of the month, on a schedule you set, once the month has closed. Also on demand.; On a schedule

Coming soonWrite the investor update is built, but not ready yet, so it cannot be turned on today. In Aestus you can ask to be told when it is ready.

Once a month somebody loses an evening to the investor update. Open the billing dashboard, the warehouse, the goals and the board. Retype numbers into a document. Try to remember what shipped. Write "momentum is building" because the real number is awkward. Send it at midnight. Month three often never gets sent at all, and when it does, August's figure no longer matches what August's update said it was.

This is the highest-stakes document Aestus writes, and it is built differently because of that. A standup with a wrong number is corrected in tomorrow's standup. An investor update with a wrong number has already been relied on by somebody who had no way to check it.

So the model is not allowed to produce a figure. It collects observations — a reading, its source, and the moment it was measured — and the month-over-month change, the gap to plan, the status of each metric and the runway are all calculated from those observations in code. If you disbelieve a number in the document, you can go to the row it came from and work it out again. That is the only sense in which a figure in an investor update can be said to be checkable.

A number your records do not support is absent, not estimated. The observations are refused outright if a metric reports a figure after the run said it could not read one, or if an absence arrives with no reason attached, or if a percentage is computed from fewer than three records. The cell then reads "not reported" with the reason underneath — never a zero, never a dash, never last month's number moved across. A zero is the dangerous one: it renders like data, it charts like data, it survives into next month's comparison as data, and nothing afterwards can tell it from a real zero.

Bad news survives, and it survives because it is selected rather than written. Every incentive in a writing prompt points at optimism. So the status of each metric comes from the value and the plan and nothing else, and the lowlights are derived from the arithmetic: every metric off plan in either direction, every goal off track, every goal nobody has touched in a month, and every metric that could not be measured. The review that runs before anything is written checks the update against that list. An update that leaves a row out fails and is rewritten. One that frames a row still contains it. A metric fifteen per cent above plan is flagged as readily as one fifteen per cent below, because the direction that counts as good is exactly the judgement a model with a reason to flatter would get wrong.

The comparison with last month is read from last month's update, not recalculated. The prior-month column comes from your records with its own source; the earlier document is opened to find out what you actually told people. Where the two disagree, the update says so, shows both figures, and links the earlier one. That disagreement is the single most expensive thing this document can leave out, and it is invisible to anyone working from one month at a time.

Nothing is sent until you approve it, and there is no setting that removes the approval. Aestus does have a way for a scheduled workflow to send unattended, and it is the right answer for an internal digest going into your own channel. It is the wrong answer here. The readers are outside the company, a mailing list cannot be edited after the fact, and your read-through before sending is not a safety wrapper around the feature — it is the step the following month's comparison depends on.

What you get

The artifact this use case produces, in the product view you would read it in.

Example — fictional team and data. Not a live run or customer result.

Worked example

document

Meridian Labs investor update — August 2026

Produced by: Run EXAMPLE-IU-01 · read-only · document and sheet on AES-1908 · nothing sent · demo values

The headline: Net new ARR was $118k against a plan of $140k, -15.7% against plan and the third month running below it [1]. Gross retention held at 97% [2]. Cash runway is 14 months at the current burn [3].
What changed since last update: | Metric | Last update | This update | Change | Source | |---|---|---|---|---| | ARR | $2.94M | $3.06M | +4.1% | AES-ART-311 | | Net new ARR | $131k | $118k | -9.9% | AES-ART-311 | | Gross retention | 97% | 97% | flat | AES-ART-311 | | Monthly burn | $196k | $204k | +4.1% | AES-ART-311 | | Paid seats | not reported | 1,184 | new | — | | NPS | 44 | not reported | dropped | AES-ART-311 | NPS is not in this update because the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists [4].
Metrics: ````aestus-kpi id: kpi_0a1b2c3d4e5f --- - { id: tile_00000001, label: "ARR", value: "$3.06M", delta: "+4.1% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000002, label: "Net new ARR", value: "$118k", delta: "-9.9% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000003, label: "Monthly burn", value: "$204k", delta: "+4.1% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000009, label: "Runway", value: "14 months", delta: null, trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } ```` | Metric | Owner | This month | Prior month | MoM | 3-month avg | Plan | vs plan | Status | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ARR | Dana Okafor | $3.06M | $2.94M | +4.1% | $2.88M | $3.10M | -1.3% | on-track | [1] | | Net new ARR | Dana Okafor | $118k | $131k | -9.9% | $126k | $140k | -15.7% | off-track | [1] | | Gross retention | Priya Raman | 97% | 97% | flat | 97% | 96% | +1.0% | on-track | [2] | | Paid seats | Dana Okafor | 1,184 | not reported | not reported | not reported | 1,250 | -5.3% | at-risk | [5] | | Monthly burn | Sam Whitfield | $204k | $196k | +4.1% | $194k | $195k | +4.6% | at-risk | [3] | | NPS | Priya Raman | not reported | 44 | not reported | 43 | 45 | not reported | no-data | [4] | NPS is not reported this month: the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists [4]. Paid seats has no prior month because the seat export was first connected on 12 August [5]. ````aestus-chart id: chart_a1b2c3d4e5f6 kind: line title: "Net new ARR against plan, trailing 6 months ($k)" categories: ["Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug"] --- - { id: series_11223344, name: "Actual", values: [104,112,129,118,131,118] } - { id: series_55667788, name: "Plan", values: [110,120,130,135,140,140] } ```` Net new ARR has been below plan every month since June and the gap is widening rather than closing [1].
Goals: - G-4 · Reach $3.5M ARR by Q4 — Dana Okafor — 61% — at-risk — last updated 2026-08-29 [1] - G-7 · Hold gross retention above 95% — Priya Raman — no target — on-track — last updated 2026-08-31 [2] - G-9 · Ship the self-serve plan — Ravi Menon — 40% — off-track — last updated 2026-07-24; no update in 40 days [7]
Shipped: - Self-serve checkout, behind a flag for 5% of signups — AES-1902 [7] - Single sign-on for enterprise workspaces — AES-1874 [7] - Usage-based billing for the growth plan — AES-1851 [7] - Audit export in the admin console — AES-1839 [7]
Spend and runway: Agent and model spend was $843 for August 2026 [6]. Cash on hand is $2.86M and monthly burn is $204k, both as entered by the finance owner on 2026-09-01 [3], which is 14 months of runway.
Lowlights: - Net new ARR is $118k against a plan of $140k, -15.7% below plan (off-track). Owner: Dana Okafor. [1] - Paid seats is 1,184 against a plan of 1,250, -5.3% below plan (at-risk). Owner: Dana Okafor. [5] - Monthly burn is $204k against a plan of $195k, +4.6% above plan (at-risk). Owner: Sam Whitfield. [3] - NPS is not reported this month: the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists. Owner: Priya Raman. [4] - G-9 Ship the self-serve plan is off-track. Owner: Ravi Menon. [7] - G-9 Ship the self-serve plan has had no update in 40 days. Owner: Ravi Menon. [7]
Asks: 1. **Two introductions to Series B leads who back infrastructure at our stage.** Copy and paste: "Meridian Labs is at $3.06M ARR with 97% gross retention and is starting Series B conversations in October — can I introduce you to Dana?" — Dana Okafor takes the call [1][2]. (AES-1908) 2. **One reference call with a security-conscious buyer.** Copy and paste: "Would you spend twenty minutes with a prospective customer on how you reviewed our audit trail?" — Priya Raman sets it up. (AES-1909)
Sources: 1. Monthly revenue query and goal G-4 — warehouse · monthly_arr_v2 · observed 2026-09-01T06:04:00.000Z 2. Gross retention, goal G-7 — goal · G-7 · observed 2026-08-31T23:11:00.000Z 3. Cash on hand and monthly burn, entered by the finance owner — parameter · financeInputs · observed 2026-09-01T09:12:00.000Z 4. NPS survey export — document · Customer survey — July 2026 · observed 2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z 5. Paid seat count — warehouse · paid_seats_v1 · observed 2026-09-01T05:40:00.000Z 6. Agent and model spend for August, from the run ledger — run · run ledger aggregate · observed 2026-09-01T06:06:00.000Z 7. Shipped work and goal updates for August — ticket · list_shipped_work · observed 2026-09-01T06:05:00.000Z

How it runs

Each step is one node in the workflow graph the interpreter runs. Nothing here is a prompt chain hidden in a route handler.

Workflow steps

01Collect
It reads your goals with their owners and targets, the tickets that reached a terminal column last month, your agent and model spend from the run ledger, and any read-only warehouse query you named. Every figure is recorded as an observation with its source and the moment it was measured. A figure it could not read is recorded as absent, with the reason it could not be read.
02Check the numbers
The observations are refused before anything is written if one of them is dishonest: a metric reported as a number after the run said it could not read one, an absence with no stated reason, or a rate computed from fewer than three records. A refused pack fails the run rather than producing a document.
03Compare
It opens last month's update and reports what it said. It does not take a number out of it — this month's prior-month column comes from your records, with its own source. Where the two disagree, the update says so and links the earlier one, because a figure that quietly changes between updates is the mistake that costs the most.
04Compute, then write
The month-over-month change, the gap to plan, the status of each metric and the runway are calculated in code from the observations, not written by a model. Then the nine sections are drafted around those figures, with the charts drawn inside the document.
05Review
Eight checks run before anything is written: every number traced to an observation, every sentence cited, every absence shown as an absence, no forward-looking promise, and every miss against plan present. A failed check writes nothing, files nothing and sends nothing.
06Approve, then send
Each ask becomes a ticket linked to the update. You read the draft, edit what you want to edit, and nothing leaves the company until you approve it.

By hand, and on Aestus

The same job, on either side.

By hand
An evening across the billing dashboard, the warehouse, the goals and the board.
On Aestus
Collected from your own records, each figure carrying the source and the moment it was measured.
By hand
"What changed since last update" is rewritten from memory.
On Aestus
Read from last month's update, so it can show what you said and where to check it.
By hand
August's number in September's update no longer matches August's update.
On Aestus
The two are compared, and any figure that has moved is reported with both values and a link to the earlier update.
By hand
A metric nobody pulled quietly becomes a zero, or disappears.
On Aestus
It reads "not reported" with the reason, and is listed as a lowlight. A zero standing in for an absence is refused outright.
By hand
The awkward number gets a kinder sentence.
On Aestus
Every miss against plan is selected by arithmetic and the review checks each one is present. Prose cannot shorten the list.
By hand
The asks are a paragraph at the bottom, then forgotten.
On Aestus
One ticket per ask, linked to the update, naming its owner, still open next month.
By hand
Sent at midnight, or not sent at all.
On Aestus
Drafted on a schedule and sent only after you approve. There is no setting that removes the approval.

What Aestus records

Every run is auditable after the fact, which is what makes handing the job over survivable.

The update and the sheet
Both are artifacts on that month's ticket, with their revisions, so the figures you sent in August can still be read in November — which is what lets the next month notice a figure that has since changed.
Where every figure came from
The metrics sheet carries a source id, a source kind and an observation time beside each row. Every marker in the document resolves to a line in its sources list.
The run
Cost, tokens, how long it took and, if it failed, why — on the same ledger as every other run in the workspace.
One claim per month
The headline numbers as reported, kept as a single memory claim for review. It is what lets next month's figures be checked against what you already said.

What it connects to

Only the tools this workflow actually uses. Each one has a setup guide.

gmailOptional

Questions teams ask

Can it send without me?

No. A send needs your approval every month, and there is no setting that removes it. An internal digest can reasonably go out unattended; this one cannot, because the readers are outside the company, a mailing list cannot be recalled, and your edit before sending is what the next month's comparison reads.

Where do the numbers come from?

Your goals, your board, your run ledger, and any read-only warehouse query you name. Figures you type in yourself — cash on hand and monthly burn — are carried as your figures and cited to you with the date you entered them. Every number in the document says which of these it came from.

What if a number is missing?

It reads "not reported" and gives the reason, and it is listed as a lowlight. It never guesses, never reuses last month's figure, and never writes a zero: a zero looks like data, charts like data, and nothing afterwards can tell it from a real one.

Will it make a bad month sound good?

The status of each metric is calculated from the value and the plan, so it cannot be labelled by a model. Every metric off plan, every goal off track, every goal nobody has updated in a month and every metric that could not be measured is selected by that arithmetic, and the review checks each one is in the update. The only way to shorten that list is to change the numbers.

Does it write a slide deck?

No. It writes a document with the charts drawn inside it, and a spreadsheet of the same metrics table beside it.

All use cases How access is governed

Sources

lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/pack.ts
lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/metrics.ts
lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/previous-update.ts
lib/domain/use-cases/deliver.ts

Hand over Write the investor update.

Tell us how your team does this today and we will set it up with you.

Talk to us

Write the investor update

Who it is for

Founders and chiefs of staff who write the monthly update by hand.

What starts it

09:00 on the 3rd of the month, on a schedule you set, once the month has closed. Also on demand.

On a schedule

Coming soonWrite the investor update is built, but not ready yet, so it cannot be turned on today. In Aestus you can ask to be told when it is ready.

Meridian Labs investor update — August 2026

Produced by: Run EXAMPLE-IU-01 · read-only · document and sheet on AES-1908 · nothing sent · demo values

The headline: Net new ARR was $118k against a plan of $140k, -15.7% against plan and the third month running below it [1]. Gross retention held at 97% [2]. Cash runway is 14 months at the current burn [3].
What changed since last update: | Metric | Last update | This update | Change | Source | |---|---|---|---|---| | ARR | $2.94M | $3.06M | +4.1% | AES-ART-311 | | Net new ARR | $131k | $118k | -9.9% | AES-ART-311 | | Gross retention | 97% | 97% | flat | AES-ART-311 | | Monthly burn | $196k | $204k | +4.1% | AES-ART-311 | | Paid seats | not reported | 1,184 | new | — | | NPS | 44 | not reported | dropped | AES-ART-311 | NPS is not in this update because the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists [4].
Metrics: ````aestus-kpi id: kpi_0a1b2c3d4e5f --- - { id: tile_00000001, label: "ARR", value: "$3.06M", delta: "+4.1% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000002, label: "Net new ARR", value: "$118k", delta: "-9.9% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000003, label: "Monthly burn", value: "$204k", delta: "+4.1% MoM", trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } - { id: tile_00000009, label: "Runway", value: "14 months", delta: null, trend: neutral, viz: count, samples: [], ratio: 0, metric: null } ```` | Metric | Owner | This month | Prior month | MoM | 3-month avg | Plan | vs plan | Status | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ARR | Dana Okafor | $3.06M | $2.94M | +4.1% | $2.88M | $3.10M | -1.3% | on-track | [1] | | Net new ARR | Dana Okafor | $118k | $131k | -9.9% | $126k | $140k | -15.7% | off-track | [1] | | Gross retention | Priya Raman | 97% | 97% | flat | 97% | 96% | +1.0% | on-track | [2] | | Paid seats | Dana Okafor | 1,184 | not reported | not reported | not reported | 1,250 | -5.3% | at-risk | [5] | | Monthly burn | Sam Whitfield | $204k | $196k | +4.1% | $194k | $195k | +4.6% | at-risk | [3] | | NPS | Priya Raman | not reported | 44 | not reported | 43 | 45 | not reported | no-data | [4] | NPS is not reported this month: the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists [4]. Paid seats has no prior month because the seat export was first connected on 12 August [5]. ````aestus-chart id: chart_a1b2c3d4e5f6 kind: line title: "Net new ARR against plan, trailing 6 months ($k)" categories: ["Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug"] --- - { id: series_11223344, name: "Actual", values: [104,112,129,118,131,118] } - { id: series_55667788, name: "Plan", values: [110,120,130,135,140,140] } ```` Net new ARR has been below plan every month since June and the gap is widening rather than closing [1].
Goals: - G-4 · Reach $3.5M ARR by Q4 — Dana Okafor — 61% — at-risk — last updated 2026-08-29 [1] - G-7 · Hold gross retention above 95% — Priya Raman — no target — on-track — last updated 2026-08-31 [2] - G-9 · Ship the self-serve plan — Ravi Menon — 40% — off-track — last updated 2026-07-24; no update in 40 days [7]
Shipped: - Self-serve checkout, behind a flag for 5% of signups — AES-1902 [7] - Single sign-on for enterprise workspaces — AES-1874 [7] - Usage-based billing for the growth plan — AES-1851 [7] - Audit export in the admin console — AES-1839 [7]
Spend and runway: Agent and model spend was $843 for August 2026 [6]. Cash on hand is $2.86M and monthly burn is $204k, both as entered by the finance owner on 2026-09-01 [3], which is 14 months of runway.
Lowlights: - Net new ARR is $118k against a plan of $140k, -15.7% below plan (off-track). Owner: Dana Okafor. [1] - Paid seats is 1,184 against a plan of 1,250, -5.3% below plan (at-risk). Owner: Dana Okafor. [5] - Monthly burn is $204k against a plan of $195k, +4.6% above plan (at-risk). Owner: Sam Whitfield. [3] - NPS is not reported this month: the August survey closed on 3 September, after the period end, so no August response set exists. Owner: Priya Raman. [4] - G-9 Ship the self-serve plan is off-track. Owner: Ravi Menon. [7] - G-9 Ship the self-serve plan has had no update in 40 days. Owner: Ravi Menon. [7]
Asks: 1. **Two introductions to Series B leads who back infrastructure at our stage.** Copy and paste: "Meridian Labs is at $3.06M ARR with 97% gross retention and is starting Series B conversations in October — can I introduce you to Dana?" — Dana Okafor takes the call [1][2]. (AES-1908) 2. **One reference call with a security-conscious buyer.** Copy and paste: "Would you spend twenty minutes with a prospective customer on how you reviewed our audit trail?" — Priya Raman sets it up. (AES-1909)
Sources: 1. Monthly revenue query and goal G-4 — warehouse · monthly_arr_v2 · observed 2026-09-01T06:04:00.000Z 2. Gross retention, goal G-7 — goal · G-7 · observed 2026-08-31T23:11:00.000Z 3. Cash on hand and monthly burn, entered by the finance owner — parameter · financeInputs · observed 2026-09-01T09:12:00.000Z 4. NPS survey export — document · Customer survey — July 2026 · observed 2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z 5. Paid seat count — warehouse · paid_seats_v1 · observed 2026-09-01T05:40:00.000Z 6. Agent and model spend for August, from the run ledger — run · run ledger aggregate · observed 2026-09-01T06:06:00.000Z 7. Shipped work and goal updates for August — ticket · list_shipped_work · observed 2026-09-01T06:05:00.000Z

Questions teams ask

Can it send without me?

Where do the numbers come from?

What if a number is missing?

Will it make a bad month sound good?

Does it write a slide deck?

No. It writes a document with the charts drawn inside it, and a spreadsheet of the same metrics table beside it.

Sources

lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/pack.ts

lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/metrics.ts

lib/domain/use-cases/write-the-investor-update/previous-update.ts

lib/domain/use-cases/deliver.ts

The investor update, written from your own records

Write the investor update

What you get

Meridian Labs investor update — August 2026

How it runs

By hand, and on Aestus

What Aestus records

The update and the sheet

Where every figure came from

The run

One claim per month

What it connects to

Questions teams ask

Hand over Write the investor update.

The investor update, written from your own records

Write the investor update

What you get

Meridian Labs investor update — August 2026

How it runs

By hand, and on Aestus

What Aestus records

The update and the sheet

Where every figure came from

The run

One claim per month

What it connects to

Questions teams ask

Hand over Write the investor update.