I have found that entrepreneurs are told to not oversell their business when they meet with VCs. This advice is problematic because it often scares entrepreneurs away from selling the part of their idea that is exciting.

Where the advice is correct is in the concept of not exaggerating the opportunity. If you genuinely believe your business will generate $10M dollars of revenue in year three, then you shouldn’t tell your investors that you’ll do $25M or $100M in your third year. Be realistic and be honest.

The problem with this advice, however, is that it implies that you shouldn’t tell a bigger story - the grand vision could come off as hyperbole or over-salesmanship. In my experience, the bigger picture is what makes a business really exciting. If phase I of the company can generate a decent size business, but phase II can create a behemoth, describe phase II – it only makes the opportunity better. Investors want to know how your business can become a giant.

If your intuition tells you that the bigger picture is a little more far fetched and less believable given where your business is today -making you nervous about sharing the vision, just couch the bigger picture appropriately. For example, you might say, “in phase I we’re going to build this business which we think can become a $100M company. At that point we might be able to take the next step of X which could present a billion dollar opportunity.” This approach allows you to sound reasonable, while still sharing the bigger picture.

While investors vary in what they are looking for, many early stage VCs are looking for companies that have a shot of realizing billion dollar valuations and in order to do that there usually needs to be a bigger story. Not sharing that story can be doing yourself a disservice. Take a risk and paint the bigger picture.