For us, it has to be the time a VC passed because we couldn't show him 70% retention over 12 months on our six-month-old product.
After hearing that, I have to know: does it get worse? I'd love to hear some more stories of excuses to pass on a round.
Investors often feel the need to give a made-up reason, but the real reason is that they're not as excited about you as about something else. Don't be discouraged -- even the most successful companies got many nos on the way to their first yes. Don't change your business strategy based on the reason any one investor gives you, although if several good investors give you the same reason, you might want to think about it.
BTW, it's normal to extrapolate retention to a yearly number using cohort analysis. Your claim is a bit like "I can't have been going 80 MPH because I've only been driving for 30 minutes!"
(I also read the OP's story as the investor asking to see actual numbers, and not projections--if someone asked to see those kinds of numbers my first thought would be that they were asking for historical data)
VC: "We really like your product, and think it could really succeed with business model X" Us: "Oh that's great, X is actually our exact business model!" one week of no contact later VC: "We're passing because we don't really understand business model x"
Sent over deck and demo.
Turns out he just couldn't sleep and wanted reading material "to pass the time."