"Well, of course you sometimes have to exaggerate. If you think there are three places where you can get a lease, then you just say you have a lease so you can move to the next step. You've got to say you are a step ahead of where you actually are to move to the step that you want to be at.

To move to step two, people have to believe that you're already at step two so there's no risk for them. Because they don't want to take on your risk -- you have to take it all on. And then you have to take on the risk of fibbing."

Investors do want to see confidence and saying "We have three leasing options, hopefully we'll get one" is not as good as "We will be signing a lease very soon". Perhaps his VCs aren't very good and he feels forced to tell them what they want to hear?

I think this is a matter of Knowing the Audience, and giving them the details that matter to them..

For instance, if you know what's going on with lease information- You've done this before, you're all set, bringing up the lease at all is just going to cause confusion.

Your VC will spend time talking about the issue, when you need his advice on issue X, or Y..

I think this is an issue where lying isn't really appropriate, but choosing what to raise as topics of discussion is more useful.