7 Ideas for Startup Metrics to Track

With so many metrics out there, it’s easy for a startup to get bogged down looking for the elusive “perfect” KPIs to monitor. From a CEO perspective, I always like to focus on keeping it as simple as possible with no more than two high-level numbers for each department to report on weekly. Now, of course, there are many more metrics tracked behind-the-scenes, but a small number makes it easy to concentrate.

Here are seven ideas for startup metrics to track on a weekly basis:

1. Annual recurring revenue — the current run rate of the business, which represents the health of the enterprise from a top-line, financial vantage point
2. Lost recurring revenue — the amount of annual recurring revenue that churned in the previous week
3. Weighted sales pipeline — the amount of new annual recurring revenue expected to be added in the next 30 days, weighted by likelihood of closing
4. New marketing qualified leads — the number of new leads that came in the past week that meet marketing’s definition of a qualified lead
5. New marketing pipeline value — the dollar amount of sales opportunity pipeline added in the past week from marketing qualified leads (the marketing qualified leads don’t have to have come in the same week)
6. New on boarded customers — the number of new customers that have finished the quick start/on boarding process in the past week
7. Net promoter score — the percent likelihood of customers surveyed in the past week to recommend the product to a colleague or friend

Bonus: if the startup is venture backed, another important metric is burn rate or number of months until the business runs out of money.

Tracking metrics on a weekly basis, displaying them on a public LED scoreboard, and making sure everyone knows where the startup stands, is a great way to align the company and hit the goals.

What else? What are some other startup metrics you really like to track?