What metrics to report to your board every month

Report seven numbers to your board every month: cash in bank, net burn, runway in months, revenue against plan, growth rate, retention, and headcount against the hiring plan. Show each one against the prior month and against plan, and keep the set identical every time so the trend is readable at a glance.

The discipline is in the number of metrics, not the number of charts. Sequoia's guidance on preparing a board deck describes the hard part as "picking the fewest number of correct metrics/charts to properly frame the current status" of the company, and warns that companies sharing the wrong charts end up not telling the story correctly.

The seven metrics to report every month

1. Cash in bank. The closing balance on the last day of the month, taken from the bank rather than the model. Sequoia's board deck guidance asks for monthly waterfalls on revenue, burn, cash balance, and headcount, and cash is the number every other one gets judged against.
2. Net burn. Total monthly spend minus revenue collected. Show gross burn beside it when the two diverge, because a board reading only net burn cannot see a cost problem masked by one good revenue month.
3. Runway in months. Cash divided by net burn, stated two ways: at current burn, and at plan. NFX's guidance on early stage board meetings is explicit that every board meeting should cover cash position and runway both with and without hitting forecast revenue.
4. Revenue against plan. The month's revenue or ARR next to the number you committed to at the start of the quarter, with the variance stated as a figure rather than described in a sentence.
5. Growth rate. Month-over-month growth as a percentage, with the trailing three months visible. The rate is the only one of these numbers that says where the company will be in a year, and small differences compound: NFX notes that the gap between 10% and 20% monthly growth is roughly threefold versus ninefold over twelve months.
6. Retention. Gross revenue retention, logo retention, or cohort retention, depending on your model. Pick one definition and never change it, because a redefined retention metric reads to a board as a metric being managed.
7. Headcount against plan. Current headcount, open roles, and which roles you expect to close next month. This is where a board can genuinely help, and it is the number most often left off the page.

What should not be in the monthly metrics?

Anything you will not report again next month. One-off charts, vanity totals, and metrics introduced to explain a bad month all cost the board the ability to read a trend. If a number is worth showing once, put it in the narrative section, not in the metrics section.

How is a board update different from an investor update?

A board update is deeper, goes to a smaller group, and exists to get decisions made. An investor update is a one page summary sent to everyone on your cap table to keep them informed and warm. The metrics overlap, but the board version carries the model, the variance against plan, and the two or three questions you actually want the room to debate.

When should board materials go out?

Before the meeting, not in it. NFX recommends sending pre-read materials around 48 hours ahead so board members arrive having read them, and spending roughly 30% of the meeting on updates and 70% on the forks in the road. A board meeting spent presenting numbers the room could have read on their own is the most expensive hour a founder wastes each month.

How many metrics is too many?

More than about seven at the early stage. The binding constraint is not the board's attention, it is yours: every metric you commit to reporting is a number you have to explain every month for the life of the company. Add the eighth only when you would genuinely make a different decision because of it.

Where should the numbers come from?

One system, not seven browser tabs. Board reporting rarely takes two days because the analysis is hard. It takes two days because the numbers live in the bank, the accounting tool, the CRM, and a spreadsheet, and reconciling them is the job. Boxsy's control center pulls from QuickBooks, HubSpot, and Plaid so cash, burn, runway, and KPIs sit in one place and board prep starts from current numbers instead of a data hunt. Read how that data is handled and secured, or see what is in each plan.

The same seven numbers, every month

Boards do not reward novelty in reporting. They reward a founder who shows the same seven numbers in the same order month after month, so the trend is visible and the conversation can move on to the decisions that need making. Pick your seven, write the definitions down, and do not change them without telling the room why.

If the reporting cadence is the part you have not set up yet, talk to our team, or read more about the team behind Boxsy.