---
id: ins_kesava-mandiga-anti-fabrication-as-rule
title: 'If you can''t trace a claim to a source, write "unverified" and stop'
operator: Kesava Mandiga
operator_role: 'Head of PMM, JustCall (SaaS Labs)'
source_url: https://www.linkedin.com/in/k3sava/
source_type: thread
source_title: 'Kesava on anti-fabrication as a portfolio rule'
source_date: 2026-04-11
captured_date: 2026-05-03
domain: [pmm, gtm]
lifecycle: [evidence, portfolio]
maturity: applied
artifact_class: rule
score: { originality: 4, specificity: 5, evidence: 4, transferability: 5, source: 5 }
tier: A
related: [ins_kesava-mandiga-substrate-driven-intelligence]
raw_ref: ../wiki/concepts/anti-fabrication.md
---

# If you can't trace a claim to a source, write "unverified" and stop

## Claim

This is the rule I'm strictest about with myself. Every metric, every "we drove" number, every aggressive round, it has to trace to a customer quote, a Wayback snapshot, a press release, a repo commit. If it doesn't, the claim is "unverified" and I either find the source or drop the claim. Composite quotes don't exist. Invented metrics don't exist. Round-numbers-that-feel-true don't exist.

## Mechanism

PMM credibility compounds and decays the same way. Every fabricated claim that gets caught burns the trust that the verified ones earned. The cost of saying "unverified" is small. The cost of getting caught making one up is the whole portfolio.