"If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following act it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." - Anton Chekhov on writing drama.

Founders have understood this for years. Everything in the deck should “fire”. The revenue metric, the retention chart, the product chart…

The question no one in the room thinks to ask is what isn't on the wall.

The churn rate that's been smoothed over a longer period, the one enterprise contract that makes the cohort look healthy, the co-founder equity split that hasn't been discussed since month two.

The pistol you never see is the one that matters.