Why should missing startup data be reported as missing instead of estimated?
Estimates hide what the founder did not show. Reporting missing data as missing keeps the record honest, tells the committee exactly what to ask for, and avoids decisions built on numbers nobody supplied.
Updated October 2026
What goes wrong with filled-in gaps
When a tool substitutes an industry average for a missing figure, the output looks complete but part of it was never in the deck. Reviewers cannot tell which parts came from the founder.
How zero inference works in practice
Each claim is linked to the page it came from where a usable citation exists. Fields the deck does not cover are listed as not provided. Those gaps become committee questions.
Worked example (synthetic)
The synthetic Aster & Moss deck gives no customer acquisition cost. The record states that it was not provided and asks the founders for channel-level acquisition cost for the last two quarters.
Read the full synthetic sample recordWhat this does not capture
- Detection of missing fields is model-assisted and should be reviewed against the source.
- Missing information is not treated as false.
Questions
Is the issued record changed later?
No. Completed records are sealed with a timestamp and fingerprint. The fingerprint confirms the record is unchanged; it does not prove the claims are true.
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