Claim verification · Sentinel
Verify your pitch deck claims before investors do.
Investors desk-research your deck before they ever meet you — and increasingly run AI diligence tools over it. Every unverified number is a potential veto. This page explains exactly how to fact-check a fundraising deck against primary sources, and where an accountable outside check fits in.
Free single-claim Teardown · 72h · Signed by a named human verifier · No card
of failed VC-backed startups cite poor product-market fit — the #1 cause of failure (CB Insights, 2024 update, n=431).
of 2022-cohort seed startups reached Series A within 2 years, to date — down from 30.6% for the 2018 cohort (Carta). Half the graduation rate; twice the scrutiny per claim.
of investor desk research is typically enough to check your TAM source, your benchmarks, and your competitive claims — before you are in the room.
What gets checked
The five claim families investors verify first
Diligence is predictable. Across seed and Series A processes, the same claim families get checked in the same order — because they are where decks most often fail.
Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
Does the TAM have a named, dated source? Do top-down and bottom-up reconcile? A TAM defined as “everyone who might conceivably pay” is the single most-mocked slide in venture.
Traction & revenue definitions
ARR vs annualised-last-month vs booked. “Active users” defined daily, weekly, or monthly. Headline metrics get re-derived from cohorts — mismatches end processes.
Unit economics
Is CAC fully loaded (people, agency, tooling)? Which churn figure is inside the LTV? Does the payback claim match the CAC and margin claims on the same slide?
Competitive comparisons
Every “faster / cheaper / only” claim is checked against what the investor already knows about the named competitor. “Category of one” claims attract the hardest questions.
Sourced-sounding assertions
“Studies show”, “industry-leading”, “up to 3×”, “conservative estimate” — unsourced authority phrases are red flags that trigger a deeper dig, not shortcuts past one.
Not sure which claim is weakest?
Pick the one an investor would challenge and submit it free. A named verifier returns a cited verdict in 72 hours.
Start a Free Teardown →The method
How to verify deck claims — the six-step process
This is the same sequence ThriveFinity's Sentinel protocol runs on every paid engagement. You can run steps 1–5 yourself; step 6 is where motivated reasoning makes an outside check worth paying for.
Inventory every verifiable claim
List every assertion an investor could challenge — anything with a number, percentage, or comparator. Most decks contain 15–30. If a slide makes no checkable claim, ask why it is in the deck.
Trace each claim to a primary source
Name the original source, not the blog that quoted it. Record the publication date and sample size. “Gartner 2024” is a citation; “research shows” is a confession.
Reconcile top-down and bottom-up sizing
Rebuild your analyst-report TAM from the bottom up: addressable customers × realistic price. If the two disagree by more than ~2×, an associate with a spreadsheet will find it.
Stress-test every definition
Define metrics the way a sceptic would. ARR or annualised last month? Fully-loaded CAC or media spend only? Which churn input is inside the LTV? Definitions kill more deals than numbers.
Red-team the competitive claims
For each comparison, draft the named competitor’s rebuttal and the partner’s follow-up question. If you cannot answer either in two sentences, the claim needs work or removal.
Get an accountable outside check
You cannot mark your own homework — founders systematically over-grade their own evidence. An independent verifier with licensed-database access signs a verdict and gives you the citation trail.
The honest comparison
AI claim checkers vs signed human verification
AI research tools are genuinely useful — we use them ourselves, disclosed openly. But there are three things an AI claim checker structurally cannot do, and they are exactly the three things diligence demands.
Sources: EMNLP 2025 findings on judgment-flipping under rebuttal; CHI 2026 on sycophancy degrading decisions; Science on user preference for sycophantic responses; OpenAI's own Deep Research disclosure on factual hallucinations. Full references on request — we hold sources on file for every claim we publish.
Done for you
Three ways to get your deck verified
Teardown — Free
One claim, verified against licensed sources, with one ranked rebuttal and a cited rewrite. 72 hours. Signed.
Start Free →Audit — £499
Your full deck, claim by claim. Three ranked rebuttals, rewrites, investor-readiness score. 48 hours. One-time payment.
Start the Audit →Council — £1,999
Full Sentinel verdict at Series A depth. Named verifier on the cover page. Unlimited rebuttal rounds. 48 hours.
Start the Council →One-time payments · No subscription · 30-day full refund if any verdict contains an uncited claim
FAQ
Verifying deck claims — common questions
What does it mean to verify pitch deck claims?
Verification means checking every factual assertion in your deck — market size, growth rates, competitive comparisons, traction metrics, regulatory statements — against primary, citable sources before an investor does. It is distinct from deck design (how it looks), pitch coaching (how you present), and feedback (someone’s opinion). A verified claim survives the partner meeting because it carries its own evidence.
How is claim verification different from a pitch deck review?
A review gives you opinions about story, structure, and design. Verification gives you a per-claim verdict — Verified, Disputed, or Unverifiable — with a citation trail. Most deck-review services ($65 on Fiverr to $6,000 at agencies) sell narrative feedback; none of them fact-check your numbers against primary sources. Verification is a different product, not a cheaper review.
Can’t I just use ChatGPT or an AI tool to fact-check my deck?
AI tools are useful for breadth, but peer-reviewed research (EMNLP 2025, CHI 2026, Science) documents two structural problems: LLMs flip their judgments when you push back, and citation accuracy remains their weakest task family. An AI “verification” that changes its mind when you argue with it — or cites sources that don’t exist — will not survive an investor who checks. A named human verifier with access to licensed databases signs a verdict and stands behind it.
What claims do investors check first?
In roughly 40 minutes of desk research, investors typically check: TAM/SAM/SOM sourcing and whether top-down and bottom-up reconcile; traction definitions (ARR vs run-rate vs booked); unit-economics inputs (fully-loaded CAC, the churn figure inside LTV); competitive comparisons against what they already know about the space; and any “studies show”-style claim with no named source.
How much does pitch deck claim verification cost?
ThriveFinity’s entry point is free: the Teardown verifies one claim from your deck against licensed sources within 72 hours, signed by a named verifier. A full-deck Audit is £499 (48 hours, every claim, three ranked rebuttals). The Council tier (£1,999) adds Series A-grade depth with a named verifier on the cover page. Every tier is a one-time payment — no subscription.
Why does this matter more now than two years ago?
Seed-to-Series-A graduation within two years collapsed from 30.6% (2018 cohort) to 15.4% (2022 cohort, to date), and the median seed-to-A gap is now around 712 days (Carta). Half as many seed startups graduate, which means every claim in your deck faces materially more scrutiny — increasingly assisted by AI diligence tooling on the investor side.