AdviceJanuary 17, 2026
Why your traction slide is lying (and how to fix it)
Cumulative charts, vanity metrics, and cherry-picked windows. The common lies on traction slides and how to fix them.
Mari Luukkainen
Founder
Cumulative charts, vanity metrics, and cherry-picked windows. The common lies on traction slides and how to fix them.
Mari Luukkainen
Founder
Your traction slide is probably misleading investors. Not in the way you think. Here's how to fix it.
Most founders don't intentionally deceive. They just present traction in ways that hide the real story.
A graph showing "Total users over time" climbing up and to the right looks great. But it hides the truth: are you still growing, or did growth stop 6 months ago?
The fix: Show monthly active users (MAU) or monthly growth rate. Investors want to see the derivative, not the integral.
"50,000 downloads" means nothing without context. Downloads don't equal users. Users don't equal revenue.
The fix: Show the metric that matters for your business model:
"300% growth this quarter" sounds impressive until you realize last quarter was flat and the quarter before that was negative.
The fix: Show at least 6 months of data. Show the bad months too. Investors will find out eventually.
"40% retention" is meaningless without knowing: 40% after how long? Retention of what (users? revenue? engagement)?
The fix: Show cohort curves. Week 1, Week 4, Week 8 retention. Or monthly cohorts for longer sales cycles. The shape of the curve matters more than the number.
A traction slide that says "We expect to reach $100K MRR by Q3" isn't traction. It's a forecast. Traction is what you've already done.
The fix: Only put actuals on the traction slide. Save projections for the financial model (if you include one).
Here's what a good traction slide includes:
For pre-revenue companies:
For revenue-stage companies:
For marketplaces:
Every number on your traction slide should pass this test: if an investor asks "so what?", you should have a clear answer.
Bad example: "10,000 signups" "So what?" "..."
Good example: "10,000 signups in 3 weeks with $0 marketing spend" "So what?" "It shows organic demand. Our CAC will be significantly lower than competitors spending $50+ per signup."
Absolute numbers matter less than growth rate. $10K MRR growing 30% month-over-month is more interesting than $100K MRR growing 5%.
How much did it cost to get this traction? If you've spent $500K to acquire $10K MRR, that's a red flag. If you've spent $50K, that's interesting.
Revenue from customers who pay list price > revenue from heavy discounts. Organic users > paid users. Enterprise contracts > SMB month-to-month.
Can this growth continue? One-time PR bumps, Product Hunt launches, and influencer posts create spikes that don't compound.
What counts as "good traction" depends entirely on your stage.
Pre-seed (raising $500K-$1.5M):
Seed (raising $1.5M-$4M):
Series A (raising $8M-$15M):
If your traction doesn't match your stage, either adjust your ask or explain why (exceptional team, unique market timing, etc.).
The best traction slides are honest about limitations. "We're early" isn't weakness. It's appropriate for pre-seed.
What investors hate:
What investors appreciate:
Your traction slide tells investors how you think. Show them you understand your own business.
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