You can have the best deck in the room, but if you can’t explain your numbers, the meeting is over before it starts. More than anything, investors want to know if you understand your own numbers well enough to run the business.

Tristan Kemitzis, a fractional CFO who has worked with more than 30 early stage companies such as Babylon Biosciences, Pave, Cato, and Inversa, sees this every day. He teams up with Haven because clean books and fast responses make these metrics accurate and defensible instead of loosely guessed. With both sides working together, founders get a financial picture investors can instantly trust.

Why Your Metrics Matter

Investors have a pattern matching muscle. They scan a few core metrics and immediately know if the story holds up. These numbers shape every early stage conversation. If they look sloppy or inconsistent across decks, spreadsheets, and your accounting file, the round slows down or stalls completely.

Clean metrics signal control. Messy metrics signal anything but that.

Revenue the Way Investors Expect to See It

Investors care far less about headline ARR and far more about how real and repeatable your revenue engine is. They want:

• GAAP revenue based on accrual accounting

• Revenue recognized over time

• Clear separation between recurring and non recurring revenue

• Early signals on retention and logo mix

Many founders confuse ARR for revenue or count annual prepayments as earned revenue. Haven fixes this. Tristan turns it into a simple chart that shows how your revenue truly behaves.

Burn Rate and Runway

These two metrics tell investors how long you have before you need more capital. Founders often calculate burn using bank movements, which inflates or hides expenses. 

Accrual burn gives the real picture.

When the books are clean, you can show runway under multiple scenarios and explain what happens if sales slow or hiring ramps faster than planned.

Customer Growth and Conversion

Investors want to see early proof that customers exist, convert, and renew. They look at:

• New customers added

• Conversion from trial or demo to paid

• Sales cycle length

• Mix of SMB vs enterprise customers

Tristan helps founders visualize where growth is really coming from instead of guessing.

Gross Margin

Gross margin is a fast way for investors to understand product efficiency. They want to see the true cost of goods, support costs included, and margin movement over time.

Messy bookkeeping distorts this metric. Haven ensures accuracy so Tristan can show how margin shapes the long term model.

Use of Funds

Investors want to know how new capital will be deployed and why it matters. They look for a clear plan tied to milestones, not vague statements.

A good financial story connects spending to outcomes. Hiring to roadmap progress. Marketing to conversion logic. Product spend to real growth.

Headcount Plan

Team is usually the biggest expense in an early stage company. Investors need a clear picture of:

• Your current team

• The next critical hires

• What each hire unlocks

Strong founders connect hiring to results instead of lists of roles.

Unit Economics

Even at the seed stage, investors demand early signals on scalability. They check CAC, LTV, payback period, and margin contribution. These numbers don’t need to be perfect. They need to match across your deck, model, and accounting system.

AR and AP Timing

It’s common for founders to forget the balance sheet entirely. Investors don’t. They check:

• Days sales outstanding

• Days payable outstanding

• Billing structure

• Collection discipline

These levers can extend (or slash) runway faster than cutting headcount or marketing.

Whale Risk

If one or two customers make up a big share of revenue, investors want to understand the likelihood of renewal and the impact if one churns. Tristan highlights this with his clients early, so founders never get blindsided in a partner meeting.

Quick Wins

A few updates that strengthen your metrics today:

• Convert revenue metrics from cash to accrual

• Break out revenue by segment

• Recalculate runway with a slower sales scenario

• Clean AR and AP data

• Map hiring directly to milestones
  
  

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• ARR and GAAP revenue mismatched

• Burn rate calculated off bank balance

• Use of funds lacking logic

• Whale concentration hidden until late

• Forecasts that assume perfect linear growth

Bottom Line

Investors don’t expect perfection. They expect clarity, consistency, and logic. Haven keeps the books clean. Tristan builds the story. Together, they help founders walk into investor meetings ready, confident, and in control.

Learn more about Tristan and his work as a fractional CFO helping early founders here https://www.kemitzisconsulting.com/.