What financial numbers actually belong on the deck versus the data room?
The short answer
The deck carries three to five numbers that prove momentum: current revenue or a leading usage metric, growth rate, and unit economics (or a credible path to them). Detailed monthly P&L, cohort tables, and a five-year model belong in the data room, not on a slide. If a number needs a paragraph to explain, it is a data-room number. Investors want the shape of the business on the deck and the proof behind it on demand.
Go deeper, your way
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Why we picked it
CRV is a top-tier US fund, and this piece draws the exact line your question asks about: it states plainly that detailed financial models belong in supporting materials, not the core deck, and that Series A adds them as an appendix. It also tells you which numbers actually move each stage (NRR still ranges wide at seed; ARR, sustained growth, gross retention, and unit economics carry Series A), so you know what belongs on the slide versus behind it.
Why we picked it
This is a working Indian seed VC (Blume backed Unacademy, Purplle, Slice) writing down what it actually looks for, slide by slide, from the people who read hundreds of Indian founder decks a year. It is blunt about the mistakes that kill decks here: a vague problem statement, a team slide buried too deep, and no customer validation when Blume wants to see the product already live with signups. Use it as the reviewer sitting across the table before you send.
Why we picked it
This is the data-room number, not the slide: a free, download-and-fill spreadsheet from a Point Nine partner that builds MRR movements, churn, CAC payback, LTV, a headcount-driven cost plan, and a monthly cash position. Build the shape of your business here, then lift the three to five headline numbers onto your traction slide and hand this whole file over when an investor asks for the proof.
