If you are a young startup, traction is everything. But let's face it, at the pre-seed or seed stage, you might not have tons to show. The trick is to emphasize the key milestones that drive the narrative and demonstrate rocketship momentum.

First, skip the boring stuff. No one cares that you registered your business or made a website. Focus on the big wins. Did you complete a successful beta test? Secure a patent? Hit a critical user growth target? These are the milestones that matter.

Second, create a ‘Journey to Date’ narrative. Don’t list all the things you have done, but rather showcase your biggest and most important achievements. Why? Because you want to communicate that your startup is making bold, impressive moves that are generating real momentum right now.

If your startup hasn’t gotten much traction in its early days, don’t worry about it. Frame those years as a ‘stealth R&D phase’ or a ‘beta testing phase’. This communicates that you were building the foundation — gathering data points, validating the product, etc — and puts your investor at ease that all that base-building was worth it.

Emphasize why now is the perfect time to invest. Point to the preparation and groundwork that has been done, the startup sitting at the edge of a major breakthrough. Make it clear that the hard ground work is done and you’re ready to launch and scale.