Map unit economics before the pitch deck

Pitch decks compress. Unit economics expand. Those two instincts fight, and the deck usually wins until a sceptical reader asks what “gross margin” includes. In Unit Economics Fieldwork we treat that question as the start of the file, not a follow-up.

Contribution after fulfilment is the number that changes hiring plans. Packaging, returns, weekend overtime, and the partner kickback parked in “marketing” all belong in the unit. If you cannot show them, you do not have a unit; you have a slogan with a currency symbol.

Founders sometimes argue that investors expect a clean slide. Clean is allowed after the messy tab exists. We have watched teams reverse a hiring plan once warehouse notes replaced a blended 62% that nobody could audit. The deck got uglier. The company got safer.

Taiwan-specific wrinkle: export freight and dual-currency quoting. If your invoice is in US dollars and your overtime is in NT$, a single-column model will lie at the first FX twitch. Keep both, then translate. Do not average them into a comfort number.

Bring the ugly tab to the room. The slides can wait a week.