Traction
Prove momentum with honest numbers. At Series A this leads the deck; investors' eyes linger here longest.
Draft your slide, then click Mark complete to move forward. The checklist and quiz below are optional self-tests. You can mark complete anytime.
Include, tick each as you draft
Nothing checked yet. You can still mark this module complete and continue.
Cut
- ✕Vanity metrics with no context (registered users, app installs)
- ✕Cherry-picked date windows
- ✕Screenshots standing in for real numbers
- ✕Cumulative curves that hide flat months
Red flags investors call out
- !Charts with no y-axis labels
- !Only cumulative curves (hides flat months)
- !Growth-rate quoted with no absolute number
Common failure patterns
What experienced readers spot first when this slide is weak.
- 1The chart is cumulative-only, hiding any flat or declining months.
- 2Growth rate is quoted without the absolute number behind it.
- 3Vanity metrics (signups, waitlist, GitHub stars) stand in for revenue or retention.
Run this against your own slide (60 seconds)
- ?Can you walk any partner through what happened in your weakest month, unprompted?
- ?Are both a growth rate and a retention number visible on the slide?
If either answer is no, the fix is above in Include or in the Weak vs. strong block below.
Starter template
$[start] → $[current] [MRR/ARR] over [N months], driven by [channel]. Retention: [logo]% / [net dollar]%.
Weak vs. strong, the same slide, rewritten
“Users love us, 4.8 star reviews and growing every week!”
“$4K → $196K ARR over 8 months (34 customers), driven by founder-led outbound to remote-native CFOs. 22% net-new MoM. Net dollar retention 118% at the 6mo cohort.”
Named metric, timeframe, driver, and the two retention numbers a partner asks for anyway, matching the chart on Nimbus's traction slide.
Check yourself
Sources
See the full methodology for how dwell seconds and scoring weights are derived.