Raising your first real money is hard. You have a vision, a working build, maybe a few early users. But when you sit down with an investor, the talk turns to numbers. Not fluffy numbers. Clear, simple signals that show your idea can turn into a real business. The good news: you don’t need dozens of dashboards. You need a tight set of signs that your product solves a real problem, that customers stick, and that you can grow without burning the house down.
This guide shows you the five metrics investors ask for at pre-seed. We’ll keep it plain and practical. You’ll learn what to track, how to measure it, what “good” looks like, and how to talk about it in a calm, confident way—even if you’re still early. Every tip comes from the trenches of building, selling, and backing deep tech, AI, and robotics teams like yours.
If you want hands-on help turning your tech into a fundable story—with patents that protect your edge—Tran.vc invests up to $50,000 in in-kind IP work before you even raise your seed. Apply anytime at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/ and get a real partner on your side.
Metric 1: Activation Rate — “Do new users get value fast?”
What it is?
Activation rate tells you if a new user reaches their first real “win” inside your product. It is the moment when a stranger stops testing and starts caring. Think of it as the first sharp click of fit. For a robotics tool, it might be a robot moving safely end-to-end with one script. For an AI product, it might be the first model run that gives a result a user can trust. The exact moment is yours to define, but it must be tied to felt value, not clicks or page views.
At pre-seed, investors do not expect perfection. They do expect proof that someone can get value without hand-holding. If users stall, your growth stalls. If they light up fast, everything else gets easier. That is why activation sits first in many investor conversations. It shows your promise is real, in the wild, with someone new, not just your team.
Pick one clear activation event. Make it simple, repeatable, and linked to the core job your user hired you to do. One good test is this: if a user hits this moment, would they be annoyed to lose your product tomorrow? If the answer is yes, you chose the right event. If the answer is no, you picked a weak proxy. Tighten it. Keep it close to the heart of the problem.
How to measure it
Start with a clean cohort of new users. This can be ten design partners or one hundred signups. What matters is that they are new to your product in the same time frame. For each user, track whether they hit your activation event within a set window. Twenty-four hours is strict. Seven days is common. Pick a window that matches your product’s natural pace. A lab automation tool may need more setup time than a simple API.
Now count. Activation rate is the share of new users who reach the event inside the window. If 40 out of 100 hit it, your activation rate is 40%. Do not bury this in mixed funnels. Keep it plain. Track it week by week so you see if changes help or hurt. If you do live onboarding, log the steps people skip or struggle with. The story behind the number is gold in your pitch.
Go one layer deeper. Break activation into the tiny steps a user must take. Sign in. Connect data. Run first job. Save result. Share result. You still report the one headline metric, but you also learn where drop-offs happen. When you remove one hard step and see activation jump, you have a clear win. Show that before-and-after in your deck. It proves you can learn fast and raise the floor without adding noise.
How to improve it (and tell the story)
First, shorten the “time to first win.” Cut choices. Preload sane defaults. Ship a sample project that mirrors a real use case. If your user must see a proof in their own environment, build a guided path that gets them there in minutes. Use checklists, inline tips, and one-click setup wherever possible. This is not fluff. It is your growth engine. Each minute saved at day one pays back for months.
Second, move value to the front. If your best moment lives after a long setup, give a taste early. Show a live preview using sample data. Offer a safe “dry run” that outputs a real insight without risk. For robotics, use a virtual environment to prove safety before a real move. For AI, show a benchmark result with a clear, honest note on limits. When users feel progress fast, they forgive rough edges and keep going.
Third, add human help in smart ways. At pre-seed, it is fine to be high touch, as long as you learn and encode those wins back into the product. Host a short “first run” call. Watch users click. Note the words they use. Then remove the need for that call through better defaults, better copy, and one-step actions. In your investor story, say: “We cut steps from nine to four. Activation rose from 28% to 52% in three weeks.” Simple, true, powerful.
Picking the right activation event
Choose an event that maps to the user’s job, not your org chart. If the job is “scan a part and catch defects,” the event is “first scan that flags a real defect,” not “account created.” If the job is “generate a clean spec from messy notes,” the event is “first spec exported and shared,” not “model trained.” The closer the event is to the core job, the stronger the signal. Investors can feel when the event is cosmetic.
Avoid vanity milestones. A download is not activation. A login is not activation. Even a click on “run” is weak if the user does not care about what comes out. Tie the event to an outcome the user would brag about to a peer. If your users would say, “I finally got X,” you found the right moment. If they would say, “I clicked through the tour,” you did not.
Be willing to revise the event as you learn. Your first guess may be off. That is normal. When you see where users truly say “wow,” update your event and backfill your data if you can. Be open about this in your pitch. It shows you are close to customers and stubborn on value, not on ego. The best pre-seed founders keep the goal fixed and the route flexible.
Setting a target that makes sense
Early targets should be honest and tied to context. A complex lab tool will not activate like a note-taking app. If your product is heavy, focus on steady gains, not absolute peaks. A move from 15% to 35% in one month is big if your setup is hard. Tell the story of what changed. Show a screen from “before” and a screen from “after.” Keep the words plain. Let the numbers do the work.
Use small cohorts to learn fast, then widen. Ten users can teach you the key friction. Fifty can prove it was not luck. One hundred can hold up in a partner diligence call. Report both the most recent cohort and a rolling average so you avoid one-off spikes. If a week dips, explain why. Maybe a new flow had a bug. Maybe a partner sent a batch of the wrong users. The point is to show control.
Share a forward plan with a simple promise you can keep. “We will hit 55% by moving data import to one step and adding a ready-to-run demo.” Then, do it. Send investors a short note after two weeks with the new number. You will stand out. Most pre-seed updates are vague. Yours will be crisp and tied to a single, real lever.
Common traps and how to dodge them
Do not hide a low activation rate behind fancy charts. Call it out, and show your fix. Investors respect clear eyes. They distrust spin. If your rate is low because your event is too strict, explain and adjust. If it is low because users get lost, show the plan to guide them. If it is low because the value is weak, you just found truth fast. Either sharpen the wedge or change the target customer.
Do not mix different user types in one bucket. A student tester does not look like a paying lab manager. A hobbyist does not look like an enterprise buyer. Label cohorts by type and stage. When you say “our target user activates at 62%,” it hits different than “overall activation is 33%” with a flood of misc signups. Tight segmentation makes you look in control, not lucky.
Do not over-optimize the welcome tour while the core task is still rough. Activation is not about charm. It is about value. If users breeze through onboarding and then stall on the first job, you did not win. Fix the job, not the tour. When the core job is clean, the rate will rise on its own. This is the boring truth that builds durable products.
How to show activation in your deck
Use one clean slide. Put the event in one short line at the top. “Activation = first defect flagged on a real part.” Place a simple chart that shows weekly cohorts and the rate. Add two callouts that name what changed and the uplift each change drove. Keep the rest of the slide empty. Your voice will fill in the color. You will sound calm and exact because you are.
Add one proof shot. This can be a redacted screenshot of the first real result, or a short quote from a design partner reacting to that first win. Keep it short and plain. “We caught a real mis-alignment in under five minutes.” Real words from a real user go farther than ten buzzwords. Investors remember them. They repeat them in partner meetings.
Close with what is next. “We will push activation to 60% by preloading templates for the top three use cases.” Simple, traceable, and near-term. If you want help turning this into a tight story, Tran.vc works with founders like you to build the moat and the message. We invest up to $50,000 in in-kind IP services so your edge is clear and protected. You can apply any time at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
Why activation matters even more in deep tech
In AI and robotics, buyers often doubt speed to value. They fear long pilots, hidden setup, and shaky results. A strong activation rate kills that fear. It shows you can bring value to life fast, in their hands, with their data or process. It shortens pilots, speeds sales, and builds trust. It is the best antidote to the “sounds cool, but…” that kills early deals.
Activation also feeds the rest of your metrics. Better activation lifts retention because people who feel value come back. It lowers acquisition cost because word spreads and trials convert. It improves onboarding because you learn where people stumble and you fix it. That is why we put it first. It gives you the right to talk about growth at all.
Finally, activation is where your IP story begins to matter. If your product gives a first win that rivals cannot copy, your rate will stay high even as others try to follow. When you can say, “this step works because of claims we filed on X,” you do more than show traction—you show a moat. If you want that edge baked in from day one, we can help. Apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/ and let’s make your first win defensible.
Metric 2: Retention — “Do users come back on their own?”
What it is
Retention shows if people return after the first win. It is the quiet proof that your product becomes a habit, not a one-time demo. When someone keeps coming back, it means the problem is real, the value repeats, and the switching cost rises each week. Investors lean in when they see this, because it hints at stable revenue later.
There are two kinds of retention to watch. The first is user retention, which tracks if the same people show up again in a set window. The second is account retention, which looks at logos or teams. In deep tech, account retention often matters more, because a lab or line may have rotating users but a steady contract. Both are useful, but you should choose the one that matches how you sell.
The heart of retention is simple. If your product saves time, makes money, or reduces risk, people will return. If it does not, they drift. Retention does not lie. That is why smart founders treat it like a compass. It points to what works, and it exposes what does not. At Tran.vc, we help teams align product and patents around the sticky part of the job, so retention improves and the moat hardens. If that sounds right for you, you can apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
How to measure it
Pick a time base that fits your use case. A daily tool can use day seven and day thirty. A weekly tool can use week four and week eight. A heavy enterprise tool may use monthly intervals. The rule is clean and consistent cohorts. Start with a cohort of new users or new accounts in the same week. Then check what share is active in your chosen later week or month.
Define “active” with care. Active should mean the user completed the core job again, not just signed in. For a robot platform, it could be a successful job run. For an AI spec tool, it could be a new spec generated and saved. When active means real work, the number may be lower, but it is honest and strong. Investors prefer a smaller, truer signal to a big vanity number.
Read the curve, not just a single point. Healthy products settle into a flat tail where a stable share of users stays active over time. If your curve drops to zero, the value is one-off or setup was forced. If it dips but then stabilizes, you have a core group that loves the product. In early pitches, show the curve with notes on what you changed between cohorts. That story proves you can learn. It also makes follow-on updates easy when you hit the targets you set. If you want help crafting that narrative, Tran.vc can coach you while we build your IP base. Apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
How to improve it
Shorten the path back to value. When a user returns, they should land where they left off, with context saved and the next step clear. Save filters, remember devices, and preload data needed for the next run. In robotics, hold last good settings and flag safe presets. In AI, cache prompts and templates that worked before. Each small bit of memory removes friction and makes the next win faster.
Deliver a steady stream of proof. Send gentle, useful nudges that pull the user back for a reason. A flagged anomaly, a fresh result, or a weekly digest of impact can all work. Avoid noise. Each nudge should say, “Here is value you care about.” When the message is timely and true, retention rises because the user feels guided, not sold. Over time, they come back out of habit, not reminders.
Close the loop with outcomes your buyer can share. If a shift leader can export a report that shows defects caught, or a researcher can paste a clean spec into a ticket, the product becomes part of their ritual. Rituals harden retention. They also fuel referrals, which lower acquisition cost later. This is where IP can matter, too. If the core loop uses a protected method that rivals cannot copy, the habit you build stays yours.
How to segment it
Look at retention by use case. A product may be sticky in one job and weak in another. Segment by the first task the user completed, and you will see which wedge drives habit. Then put more weight there. In your pitch, show that the “right” users retain at a high rate. That makes your GTM focus feel disciplined, not narrow. It tells investors you know where to hunt.
Segment by channel. Users from a cold ad often churn faster than users from a founder intro or a partner. If your warm channel retains well, lean into it while you refine onboarding for cold traffic. Investors respect this clarity, because it shows you can scale what works and fix what does not, rather than throwing spend at a leaky bucket.
Segment by role. The champion who feels the pain often returns more than the executive sponsor. Both matter, but for early traction, the hands-on role is the heartbeat. If technician retention is strong, you can use that proof to win and keep the account, even if budgets move slowly. Show this split in diligence and you will look grounded.
How to present it
Use one clean chart per audience. For a product-minded partner, show user retention with the activation event as your “active” definition. For a finance-minded partner, show account retention with monthly activity or contract renewals. Keep the axes readable and the notes brief. Do not crowd the slide. Let the curve and a few plain words carry the message.
Pair the chart with a short before-and-after. “We moved templates into the first screen. Week-four retention rose from 22% to 41%.” This is easy to grasp and hard to argue with. It shows cause and effect. It also proves that the team can ship changes that matter. Many early decks show motion without impact. Yours will show impact with very few words.
End with a near-term, testable goal. “Next, we will add saved presets and role-based views to lift week-eight retention to 45%.” When you hit it, send a short note with the new chart. This builds trust. It also keeps the door open with investors who passed too early. Clear updates win respect. If you want a partner who helps you set and hit these goals while building patents that lock in your edge, you can apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
What “good” looks like at pre-seed
There is no single magic number, because products differ. A heavy system used weekly can be healthy with a smaller, stable tail. A daily tool should keep a larger share active. What investors want to see is a curve that flattens and a clear path for making it flatter and higher with product, not tricks. Honesty about context matters more than raw size.
Progress beats perfection. A steady rise across cohorts, with a simple reason behind each step, is stronger than one shiny cohort with no explanation. If a bad release hurts a week, say so and show the fix. This posture wins trust. It also helps you focus the team on compounding gains rather than chasing a one-time spike.
In deep tech, seasonality and long cycles can skew views. Name them, but do not hide behind them. If a lab shuts down in August, plot cohorts to account for that. If a plant runs quarterly, choose monthly windows that match. Show that you understand the rhythm of your buyer’s world and that your product fits that rhythm.
How retention ties to revenue later
Retention is the base for expansion. When users return and get value, it becomes natural to add seats, lines, or modules. Expansion turns a small pilot into a real account. Even before you have full pricing in place, you can model this by showing how active accounts grow usage over time. Investors will see the slope and fill in the revenue with their own sense of price.
Retention also drives gross margin in software-led tech. The more people use your system without human help, the more your cost per unit of value falls. This matters at seed and beyond. Showing strong retention today says your future margins will be healthy. That makes your later rounds easier and your path to real scale clearer.
Lastly, retention strengthens your IP story. When a sticky loop is protected by claims around the method, data flow, or control logic, rivals cannot simply clone your wins. You keep users because you keep the core value unique. Tran.vc focuses your patent work on that loop so every return visit adds to a moat you own. If you are ready to make your stickiest value hard to copy, apply now at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
Common pitfalls and fixes
Do not confuse usage spikes with retention. A launch post or a partner email can push a crowd in for a day. If they do not return the next week, nothing real changed. Treat spikes as a chance to learn, not a win. Use the traffic to test onboarding, watch drop-offs, and improve the first repeat action.
Do not make people rely on support to succeed. If every return visit needs a call, the habit will not form. At pre-seed, high-touch help is fine, but the goal is to encode the help into the product fast. Write down what support says most. Then change copy, defaults, and flows so the product says it for you. Each removed question is a step toward natural retention.
Do not let stale data kill trust. In AI and robotics, bad or late data breaks habits because results feel random. Add clear status, freshness notes, and safe fallbacks. If data is missing, say it and guide the next best step. Honesty keeps users engaged even when inputs are messy. This seems small, but it keeps the loop alive.
A simple weekly rhythm to manage it
Every week, review the newest cohort’s day-seven result and the prior cohort’s day-fourteen result. Keep the meeting short. Ask what changed in the product, what changed in onboarding, and what questions users asked. Pick one fix that will likely move the next cohort, and ship it. This rhythm compounds. In a quarter, your curve will look different.
Write a two-line note to your investor list once a month. Share the newest retention curve and the one change that moved it. Add one user quote. Close with the next improvement you will ship. This habit keeps you top of mind and shows steady control. It also makes future diligence fast, because your numbers already have a story.
If you want a partner to help you design this rhythm and protect the loop that makes it work, Tran.vc can help. We invest up to $50,000 in in-kind IP services that turn your sticky loop into protected ground. You build, we help you guard the core. If that fits, apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
Metric 3: Time to First Revenue — “How fast do dollars start?”
What it is
Time to first revenue tracks the days from first contact to the first real payment. It is the clock that starts when a lead raises a hand and stops when money clears. At pre-seed, this tells an investor if your path from interest to income is short, slow, or stuck. It also shows if your promise turns into proof that someone will pay, not just test.
This metric matters because speed buys learning. Each paid moment funds the next build, reveals real objections, and sharpens who your true buyer is. In deep tech, pilots can drift for months. When you can cut the time to the first check, you break that drift. You replace “we’re exploring” with “we paid for X to do Y,” which is crisp, bankable progress.
It also anchors your plan. A short time to cash gives you more shots on goal before you run out of runway. A long time demands careful staging, stronger proof, and tight control of costs. Either way, knowing the number helps you speak with calm control. You are not guessing. You are managing a known clock.
How to measure it
Pick a clean, consistent start point. For founder-led sales, start the clock on the first qualified call where the buyer has the problem, the power, and the budget. Do not start on a cold email reply. Do not start on a casual chat. Choose a clear moment when the buyer agrees to explore a paid outcome, even if the first step is a pilot. This keeps your number honest and useful.
Define the stop point as the first payment received. This can be a paid pilot, a setup fee, or the first month of a contract. Do not count a signed letter with no money. Money is the proof. Log the date for each deal, then compute the days from start to paid. Show the median, not just the average, because a few long outliers can skew the mean and hide your real pace.
Track this by stage in your funnel. The path may include scoping, legal, security review, and onboarding. When you see where time piles up, you can fix the slow step. If security takes three weeks every time, move your security answers to the front. If legal stalls, ship a one-page pilot order with simple terms. The metric tells you where to push so cash comes sooner.
How to improve it
Sell a narrow, paid first step that proves value fast. Scope a pilot that is small, safe, and tied to one job the buyer already cares about. Promise one result in a short window. Price it so approval is easy. The goal is not to make a lot of money on day one. The goal is to learn fast, show impact, and pave the road to the next check without drama.
Pre-build the assets that slow deals. Keep a short security packet ready. Keep a simple MSA and a tiny pilot order ready. Keep redlines light and sane. In many companies, legal and security are the real bottlenecks, not desire. When you arrive with answers and friendly paper, you win weeks without writing a single line of code.
Make your buyer look good early. Give them a one-page summary they can send upstairs that says what will happen, by when, and what risk is off the table. Add one metric the exec will care about and promise to report it. When your champion can show clear progress with little risk, approvals move faster. You trim the clock without a fight.
How to segment it
Split the metric by buyer type. A plant manager paying from an operations budget often moves quicker than a central IT buyer. A lab team can swipe a card for a pilot while procurement drags. When you see which path closes faster, lean into it for early dollars while you build the slower lanes in parallel. This keeps cash flowing and learning steady.
Split by channel. Warm founder intros close faster than cold outbound. Partner-sourced leads might be slower to start but larger once they pay. Knowing this helps you set expectations in the room. When you can say, “Warm intros pay in twenty-three days on median, cold is fifty-one,” you sound in control and investors relax. You are not hand-waving. You are running a process.
Split by problem slice. Some use cases have fewer blockers. If one slice shows a short path to paid and strong results, treat it as your beachhead. Show that the time to first dollar in that slice keeps falling as you polish the playbook. This sends a strong signal that you can scale with discipline, not spray and pray.
How to present it
Use one clear line that shows the median days by month or quarter. Add small notes above the points to mark changes you made, like “switched to pilot order,” “published security FAQ,” or “added virtual demo.” Keep the visual clean. One line, one y-axis, and a short title are enough. The story is in the slope and the notes.
Pair the line with two short deal stories, told in simple words. The first is an old, slow deal that taught you what to fix. The second is a recent, fast deal that proves the fix worked. These two snapshots make the line feel real. They also show that your team learns and acts, not just reports. Investors remember stories. Give them two that carry your point.
Close the slide with a near-term target. State the new median you will hit and the one lever that gets you there. When you later send an update with the new point on the same line, trust compounds. If you want help crafting this proof and protecting the core methods that make your wins hard to copy, Tran.vc invests up to $50,000 in in-kind IP services. You can apply any time at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
Common pitfalls and fixes
Do not hide long cycles behind free pilots. Free work breeds slow work. When no one pays, no one hurries. Even a small paid pilot creates a clock and a clear owner. If a buyer refuses any payment, shrink the scope again, but keep a price. This tiny price is your filter and your speed.
Do not let your first meeting be a generic demo. Show their world, not a reel. Use a short, staged proof with their data or a realistic proxy. The more the buyer can see their job on screen, the fewer back-and-forths you need. This shaves days and builds urgency because the gap between today and “done” feels small.
Do not accept “we’ll get back to you” as a plan. Ask for a date and the next step in writing. Offer to draft the recap email for your champion to forward. When every meeting ends with a calendar moment and a named owner, the deal marches. Small structure beats big pressure every time.
Why it matters in deep tech
In AI and robotics, buyers fear long, messy rollouts. A short time to first revenue proves you can start small, deliver value, and build trust without asking for the world. It changes the tone from “big transformation” to “small, safe step,” which is how real change begins in complex settings.
Speed to paid also reveals where your protected edge lives. If the part of the flow that shortens the cycle depends on a unique method, a trained model, or a control approach, that is a prime target for your early patents. Locking those claims now keeps competitors from copying your speed later. Fast and defensible is the rare, powerful mix investors love.
This is where Tran.vc can help in a hands-on way. We map your fastest path to paid, find the core methods that make it fast, and turn them into IP that walls off your lane. We invest time and up to $50,000 of in-kind IP work so you raise with leverage, not hope. If that fits your plan, apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/ and we will dig in together.
Metric 4: Burn Multiple — “How many dollars do you burn to add one dollar of revenue?”
What it is
Burn multiple shows how much cash you spend to grow your top line. It is a clear way to tell if your machine turns money into more money, or just smoke. The math is simple. You look at how much net new revenue you added in a period, and how much cash you burned to get it. The lower the number, the stronger your engine.
At pre-seed, you may not have big revenue yet. That is fine. The point is to show that each step forward costs less over time. When you prove that your spend turns into real, lasting dollars, investors feel safe. They can see you will not need to raise on bad terms just to keep the lights on. They can see that growth is not only possible, but affordable.
Burn multiple is also a focus tool. It forces choices. If a channel eats cash and adds nothing, the number will call it out. If a product tweak lifts paid conversions without extra spend, the number will cheer it. You learn what to do more of, and what to stop. This is how small teams win. They put dollars where proof grows.
How to measure it
Pick a clean time window, like a quarter. Compute your net new revenue in that window. If you sell monthly, use MRR. If you sell projects or pilots, use cash received. Do not count deals that have not paid yet. Money speaks. Now sum your net cash burn in the same window. This is cash out minus cash in. Divide burn by net new revenue. That ratio is your burn multiple.
Use the median of a couple of recent periods to smooth noise. Early on, one deal can make a month look odd. A quarter gives a fairer view without hiding reality. Keep the math in a simple table. Date on the left, burn in the middle, net new revenue on the right, and the ratio at the end. You do not need a fancy chart to make the point land.
Make one choice and stick to it. If you use MRR, stay with MRR. If you use cash collected, stay with cash collected. Changing the rules mid-stream will confuse people and make trust harder to earn. You can show both, but be clear about which one is your headline. In the room, say the rule in one short line so everyone is on the same page.
How to improve it
Target the steps that add paid revenue with less effort. Tighten your pitch so the right buyers say yes faster. Refine your first paid step so it is small, safe, and easy to approve. Move your best proof to the front of the talk so the champion does not need five meetings to believe. Each day you shave from the path to cash improves the ratio.
Cut spend that does not move deals. If a channel brings noise, pause it. If a tool helps no one, drop it. If a feature soaks time and does not lift win rate, park it. You are not cutting to look lean. You are cutting to buy room for the moves that work. The burn multiple rewards this kind of clean focus because dollars stop leaking into dead ends.
Turn help into product. If your team spends hours repeating the same setup, encode it. Use templates, presets, and checklists. Add a sandbox that proves value without long hands-on time. As your help turns into buttons, your team can handle more buyers with the same headcount. Your burn stays flat while revenue climbs. The ratio falls in your favor.
How to segment it
Split the ratio by channel. A founder intro may have a great burn multiple because it uses time, not cash. A paid ad may look worse today but improve as your targeting sharpens. When you show the split, your plan feels real. You are not guessing. You are putting more weight where the math smiles and less where it frowns.
Split by use case. Some slices pay fast with little support. Others need long work to prove value. If one slice gives you a low burn multiple, call it your beachhead and lean in. Build the playbook there. Later, use the cash and proof from that wedge to fund the harder slices. Investors like this stepwise plan because it lowers risk at every turn.
Split by product tier. A self-serve plan can have a very low burn multiple if activation and conversion are smooth. An enterprise tier may have a higher ratio early but bigger payoffs later. Show both tracks and the plan to improve each. This shows you know where scale and margin will come from, and how to earn them.
How to present it
One small chart with three dots is enough. Show your last three quarters with the ratio on a simple line. Add two tiny notes above the dots to mark actions you took that moved the number. Keep it clean. No extra colors. No busy grid. Simplicity says you know the signal and you respect the room’s time.
Pair the chart with a short, concrete example. “We paused cold ads, moved to founder-led partner intros, and shipped a one-page pilot order. Net new revenue grew, burn stayed flat, burn multiple fell from 3.8× to 1.9×.” These few words carry the weight. They tie motion to impact. They also make your team look like doers, not reporters.
End with the next lever and the next target. “We will reach 1.4× by shifting demos to live data in week one.” When you later share the new dot with the updated ratio, trust builds. The best founders keep a tight loop between promise and proof. This metric makes that loop visible.
Common pitfalls and fixes
Do not game the number by starving the funnel. If you cut all growth spend, your ratio may look better for a moment, but you will stall. The goal is not to win the quarter on paper. The goal is to build a machine that turns dollars into durable growth. Keep feeding the parts that prove they work, even as you prune the rest.
Do not hide short-term help that creates long-term pain. Free work can make revenue appear, but if it sets a bad price anchor or drains the team, the ratio will bite you later. Charge something. Keep scope tight. Say no when a “quick favor” will soak a week. The clean, small yes today makes the bigger, fair yes possible tomorrow.
Do not blend R&D and GTM in a way that muddies the water. You will invest in core tech that will not pay back this quarter. That is normal, and it matters. Call it out as R&D and keep burn multiple focused on go-to-market spend versus net new revenue. You can show both pictures side by side and explain how each will change over time.
Why it matters in deep tech
In AI and robotics, it is easy to burn cash on proofs that never turn into dollars. A clean burn multiple keeps you honest. It pushes you to ship the smallest thing that shows value in the real world. It also helps you defend longer R&D cycles, because you can show that your customer work stays efficient while the core tech matures.
It signals discipline to future lead investors. Seed and Series A partners will ask, “What happens when we add dollars?” A low and falling burn multiple lets you answer, “We know how to turn spend into growth, and we can do it without waste.” That answer is rare at pre-seed. It stands out because it is simple, measurable, and repeatable.
It links to your moat, too. If the reason your ratio is strong is a unique method that lowers onboarding time or a control loop that cuts support, protect it. Claims around those core methods can lock in your cost edge. Tran.vc focuses your early IP on exactly these levers so rivals cannot copy the parts that make you efficient. If that is the edge you want, apply at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/ and we will help you build it.
Metric 5: Qualified Pipeline Coverage — “Do you have enough real shots on goal?”
What it is
Qualified pipeline coverage tells you if you have enough real deals in motion to hit your near-term revenue plan. It is not every name in a spreadsheet. It is only the leads that match your target profile, feel the pain you solve, and have a clear next step on the calendar. Investors ask for this because it shows your future in simple terms: who might pay you soon, and why.
Think of it as oxygen for your go-to-market. When coverage is thin, even strong teams wheeze. When it is healthy, you can miss a few swings and still win the inning. Coverage is not about bragging rights. It is about odds. With enough qualified shots, you reduce luck and turn sales into a steady, learnable process.
At pre-seed, you do not need a giant funnel. You need a right-sized one that matches your price and sales speed. If your first step is a paid pilot, a handful of tight fits can be plenty. The key is truth. If a lead is “curious” but not ready to buy, it is not qualified. Keep the bar high and your view clear.
How to measure it
Start by defining “qualified” in one clear line. For example: “A qualified deal has a real buyer with the problem, a budget path, and a next meeting booked.” This sounds simple, and that is the point. When your rule is plain, you can apply it without debate. Every name either meets the bar or it does not. No gray zone. No fluff.
Next, set your target coverage. A common starting point is two to three times your near-term goal. If you aim to close $50,000 in the next quarter, you want $100,000 to $150,000 of qualified pipeline in that same window. The exact factor depends on your win rate and deal size, but the habit matters more than the number. You are building a muscle that links today’s actions to tomorrow’s dollars.
Keep time in view. Coverage only counts if the deals could close inside the period you care about. A big logo six months out does not help this quarter. Tag each deal with a realistic close month, and roll up the totals by month. When you look at the next one to three months, you see your true oxygen level. If it is low, you act now, not later.
How to improve it
Tighten your Ideal Customer Profile. Write it in plain words. Name the role, the pain, the current workaround, and the budget owner. Use it as a filter. If a lead does not match, say no or park it. When you focus like this, every meeting is sharper, and your win rate—and thus your coverage math—gets better without adding more names.
Add a small, paid first step that fits your ICP’s approval path. A tiny pilot with clear success criteria creates momentum and makes qualifying easier. If a prospect will not commit to a small, safe step, they are not real yet. That is good to learn fast. You can be polite and keep the door open, while you spend your next hour on a deal that can move now.
Feed the top of funnel with a repeatable motion. Founder intros, partner referrals, and narrow outbound all work when you stick to your ICP and send honest, specific messages. Share one crisp proof from a similar customer. Ask for one clear next step. As you log what works, turn it into a short playbook. The playbook makes new pipeline appear with less effort each week.
How to segment it
Split coverage by source. Put founder intros in one bucket, partner-sourced in another, and cold outbound in a third. Each source will have a different win rate and speed. When you see the pattern, you can balance your time. You might keep cold outreach small but steady, while you double down on partners that send the right buyers who move fast.
Split by use case. Your product might solve three pains, but one will move first with less friction. If coverage is thick in one use case and thin in others, lean into the thick one. This is your beachhead. You can expand later. Right now, you want wins that teach and cash that funds the next steps. Investors love this discipline because it lowers risk.
Split by stage. Early-stage pipeline should have a short, specific next step. Late-stage pipeline should have clear, dated approvals. When you break the view this way, you can spot blockages. If many deals live forever in “evaluation,” you need sharper success criteria or a smaller first step. If many stall at “legal,” you need friendlier paper. The segments tell you where to push.
How to present it
Show a simple table with four columns: Company, Stage, Close Month, Amount. Keep only qualified deals in the list. Add one short note per deal that names the pain you solve. No hype. Just a line like, “Cuts defect detection time by 60% on line 2.” This makes your pipeline feel real and human, not abstract.
Add a tiny summary above the table: total qualified pipeline for the next three months, your goal for that period, your coverage factor, and your current win rate. Four numbers. That’s it. Then, one sentence that explains your plan to close the gap or keep the edge. Investors do not need a CRM tour. They need a clean read and your calm plan.
Pair the table with a short story about one deal you won and one you lost. Tell why. Name what you changed in your process because of each. This turns the numbers into learning. It shows that you are not just filling a funnel—you are sharpening a playbook. That is the signal partners are hunting for at pre-seed.
Common pitfalls and fixes
Do not pad the list with weak names. A long list of maybe’s hurts you. It makes you look busy but not effective. Keep the list short and true. If you need more names, go get them the right way. Ask for warm intros. Ship a clear case study. Host a tight demo for your niche. Quality first. Volume second.
Do not chase logos that cannot move. Big brands are tempting, but many will slow you down early. If a smaller buyer can pay now and teach you what matters, pick them. You will use that proof to win the big logo later with less pain. You are building momentum, not a press release.
Do not let deals drift. Every meeting should end with a date, an owner, and a success check. Write a brief recap and send it the same day. Make it easy to forward. If a deal goes quiet, ask once with clear value, then move on. Stale deals clog your view and drain your energy. Fresh deals make you better.
Why it matters in deep tech
In AI and robotics, buyers face real risk. They worry about safety, downtime, and trust. A tight pipeline made of real fits shows that your wedge is small, safe, and wanted. It tells investors that you know who will move now, why they will move, and how you guide them to a result they can defend.
Coverage also connects to your moat. The reason these buyers qualify and progress may be a unique method, a data edge, or a control trick you built. That is IP worth protecting. When claims cover the moves that unlock approval and speed, your sales edge becomes hard to copy. You do not just have leads—you have leads that only you can convert efficiently.
This is where Tran.vc leans in. We help you name the wedge, tighten the proof, and file claims around the core steps that make your pipeline advance. We invest up to $50,000 in in-kind IP work so your path to dollars stays yours. If this matches your plan, you can apply any time at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.
A weekly rhythm to manage it
Hold a short pipeline review every week. Only discuss qualified deals. For each one, confirm the pain, the buyer, the next step, and the close month. If any of these are fuzzy, the deal is not qualified. Move it out or fix it on the spot. This firmness keeps your view clean and your actions sharp.
Add a tiny top-of-funnel block to the same meeting. Each person says who they will ask for two intros that match the ICP. Keep it human and specific. Track the asks and the results. This steady trickle of the right names protects coverage without a separate, heavy process.
Close by naming one friction you will remove this week. Maybe it is a faster security packet, a one-page pilot order, or a sample data set that makes the first demo feel real. Ship it, then watch how it changes stage speed and win rate. Small fixes compound. Your pipeline grows more qualified, faster, and more likely to close.
Conclusion: How to turn five simple numbers into a fundable story
Strong pre-seed stories are simple. Show that new users reach value fast, they return on their own, first dollars arrive quickly, spend turns into real growth, and there are enough real deals ahead. These five signals make your case clear. They prove you can learn, focus, and build a steady engine without noise.
Keep the talk plain. One line on what each number means, one clean chart, one short note on the change that moved it. Tie each win to the part of your product that is hard to copy. When your core method is protected, your numbers last. That is how you raise with confidence and keep control.
If you want a partner to help lock in that edge and shape the story, Tran.vc invests up to $50,000 in in-kind patent and IP services for AI, robotics, and deep tech teams. We help you turn code into assets and metrics into momentum. If that fits your next step, apply now at https://www.tran.vc/apply-now-form/.