Founders love to talk about their big dreams.

Here’s the challenge. Startups typically launch with a puny beta product targeting a limited customer set.

So should you talk about what you have now, what you’ll build as the company matures, or all the ways in which you’ll change the world?

In a word, yes. You need to tell all those stories, at the same time—but to different audiences.

Here are the stories you need:

• Launch. It’s the product you have today. This story treats your current product as though that’s all you ever set out to do.

• Midlife. This is what your company looks like when you achieve success in your vertical.

• Revolution. This is when you can leverage dominance in your original vertical or product area into a platform that spreads across the industry, or even industries. This is TED-talk territory—the stuff you and your co-founders talked about that first night when you realized just how amazing your idea was.

Here’s the summary of which story to tell to whom:

Investors: Investors need to hear all three stories, with an emphasis on Launch and Revolution. The promise of enormous impact is what attracts them. And your ability to take the first step—to sell something to someone—is what gives them the confidence to write the check. Your roadmap, leading from Launch to Midlife to Revolution, is how you connect the stories.

Employees: You need to keep your team executing in the here and now. If you don’t launch your beta product or make those first sales, there won’t be a company in 12 months. Sure, they need to know the big vision so they understand what they’re aiming for and remember how valuable their stock options might become, but you want to be sure that watercooler conversations aren’t dreamy talk of all the things you’ll be able to do when you’re huge. Keep them focused on today.

Industry. When you get invited to give a keynote at the industry conference or are writing a thought leadership article about your company, you can stay firmly focused on the big picture. The audience wants the big vision and your motivation. Sure, you can mention where your company is today, but no need to dwell.

Customers. Most importantly, and probably hardest to stick to: Your customers need to only hear about what they can buy today. Eliminating the Launch and Midlife stories from your customer-facing communication serves two purposes: it keeps the customer focused on the product they can actually buy, and it keeps you focused on the value proposition you’re currently offering.

I’ve worked with several companies whose long-term value proposition depended heavily on network effects. But the thing is, when they launched, those didn’t exist—but their websites still talked about them as if they did. By only listing the features and benefits of the product you have today, your customers and your team will keep a sharp focus on the value of what you’re selling today.

A dead giveaway that you’re overselling is if you include the word “changing” (or its even more breathless brethren, “revolutionizing” and “disrupting”) near the top of your website, as in “We’re Changing the Way Real Estate Is Financed.” That’s forward-looking self-congratulation, not a customer benefit. Customers want to hear how the product you’re selling today addresses the problems they have today. Clearly separating today’s pitch from your future visions keeps you from breathing your own exhaust.

Sometimes founders tell me they worry that if they only talk about today’s product, or today’s target market, they will then have to adjust their story later. Relax. No one is going to accuse you of inconsistency for expanding later. Was anyone upset when Amazon launched as a bookseller and then started selling everything?

So: your immediate story goes on all customer-facing communication channels, including website, sales materials, and social media pages.

But won’t investors, customers, and industry partners visit your website? Sure. But the website is for customers. Think of it as your retail store. Potential investors or employees will walk in to check it out. But they’re there as a customer, to decide if they like what they see. You’ll meet with them 1:1 later and give them the extra story targeted at them.