{"id":6647,"date":"2016-08-25T10:57:47","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T10:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?p=6647"},"modified":"2019-11-28T11:25:53","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T11:25:53","slug":"meaningful-metrics-for-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups","title":{"rendered":"Meaningful metrics for startups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 1px solid #CCC; border-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;\" src=\"\/\/www.slideshare.net\/slideshow\/embed_code\/key\/NcD9X8bWXM1vuY\" width=\"595\" height=\"485\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"> <\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 5px;\"><strong> <a title=\"Meaningful Metrics for Startups\" href=\"\/\/www.slideshare.net\/gosquared\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Meaningful Metrics for Startups<\/a> <\/strong> from <strong><a href=\"\/\/www.slideshare.net\/gosquared\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GoSquared<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<p>The above SlideShare is based on a talk we\u2019ve given to a number of incubators and startups. Metrics can be totally overwhelming for startup teams, so we wanted to share some of our learnings from working with thousands of startups over the years.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/static.gosquared.com\/images\/liquidicity\/16_08_25_metrics_01.png\" alt=\"GoSquared graphs and metrics for startups\"\/><\/p>\n<h2>Why should I care about the metrics I track?<\/h2>\n<p>If you want to build a data driven culture, it\u2019s something that you have to cultivate from the start.<\/p>\n<p>We really can\u2019t emphasise this enough.<\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/gosquared.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GoSquared<\/a> we\u2019ve had the good fortune to understand how companies of all sizes use data.<\/p>\n<p>In larger companies, one of the most frustrating situations we often see is when data scientists and analysts put forward data-driven proposals and get overruled by someone higher up the food chain with a gut-based decision. There&#8217;s even an industry term\u00a0\u2013 &#8220;HIPPO&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/econsultancy.com\/blog\/62179\u2013100-frequently-used-digital-marketing-acronyms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Highest Paid Person&#8217;s Opinion<\/a>) for the boss that will chose to ignore the data and instead trust their instinct.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&ldquo;<strong>HIPPO<\/strong>&rdquo;: Highest Paid Person&#8217;s Opinion<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a common industry problem and it can take a considerable effort to change the mindset of employees to be more data-reliant. If you want a business that makes decisions based on data, you have to cultivate this from the very beginning &#8211; that&#8217;s why we really emphasise this early on with startups.<\/p>\n<h2>Different types of metrics for startups<\/h2>\n<p>For some, just knowing if a metric is going up or down is good enough.\u00a0But this can lead to a lot of confusion, misunderstanding, and ultimately cause decisions to be made off the wrong data.\u00a0When we talk to our customers, we talk about the other metrics they use to run their business \u2013 not just the ones they want to track online.<\/p>\n<p>Often a large proportion of the team don&#8217;t have a clear understanding of how important KPIs are calculated. If you don\u2019t know how they\u2019re calculated or what a metric actually means, it can be difficult to determine whether this a leading or lagging metric. For example, should the team view a specific metric on a larger timeframe? Should they be discounting the result of an A\/B experiment because there simply isn\u2019t sufficient volume of data to prove it?<\/p>\n<p>Once you have a solid conceptual understanding of how each metric is calculated and what it actually means, then you can start to make better decisions more confidently and iterate quicker.<\/p>\n<h2>Importance of frameworks<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/static.gosquared.com\/images\/liquidicity\/16_08_25_metrics_02.png\" alt=\"GoSquared ABCD framework for startups\"\/><\/p>\n<p>While we only mention a few analytics frameworks in our SlideShare, there are dozens more out there. The framework that works for you will depend on the type of business you run and the stage you&#8217;re at. Choosing a good framework is important, because it can provide a guide for the metrics you want to track and help you focus on fewer but <em>better<\/em> metrics.<\/p>\n<p>A five-person startup will struggle to focus simultaneously on content marketing, paid acquisition, onboarding conversion, user retention, and new feature releases. It\u2019s just too much. The end result is usually a subpar outcome of all of the above.<\/p>\n<p>By following a framework, startups can focus on one or two areas of the business at a time, optimising until there are diminishing returns and then moving onto the next weakest performing area of the business.<\/p>\n<p>While frameworks help focus efforts, startup teams can still be easily distracted, feeling the pressure to improve <em>all<\/em> of their metrics at once. For example, it\u2019s often very tempting to start paid acquisition because you see your competitors doing the same.\u00a0This can be a costly mistake if churn is high, as you\u2019re effectively pouring money into a leaky bucket. Startups that have discipline and focus are the ones we see growing the fastest.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve defined our own framework \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/simplifying-our-business-with-abcd\">the ABCD framework<\/a> \u2013 to help guide our own decision making.<\/p>\n<h2>Lessons learned<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to wax lyrical about the benefits of being data driven.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve seen many startups make the same mistakes, because too often early implementation advice isn\u2019t shared. Simple things like defining an agreed naming convention for events upfront can save hours of confusion and miscalculations further down the line.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the lessons in this SlideShare are personal ones that we have learned along the way. We\u2019re sharing them because if you can skip these mistakes then you\u2019re going to be in a much better position from the start.<\/p>\n<h2>Final note<\/h2>\n<p>Getting analytics right in a startup is hard.\u00a0The product could be changing weekly. Your target customer might be different next month. Your pricing will likely change two weeks from now.<\/p>\n<p>Just because a metric is hard to measure doesn\u2019t mean it should be ignored\u00a0\u2013 quite the opposite.\u00a0Startups need to know what\u2019s working and what isn\u2019t, and with these guiding principles we hope you can iterate faster, build a better product, and find your inner metrics zen.<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to ping us a message anytime on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/software\/chat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chat<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019ll be more than happy to help out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meaningful Metrics for Startups from GoSquared The above SlideShare is based on a talk we\u2019ve given to a number of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1585],"tags":[96,598,608,1074,841],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-success","tag-analytics","tag-measurement","tag-metrics","tag-slideshare","tag-startups"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.6 (Yoast SEO v19.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meaningful metrics for startups - GoSquared Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meaningful metrics for startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GoSquared Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoSquared\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"\/\/static.gosquared.com\/images\/liquidicity\/16_08_25_metrics_01.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HughHopkins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GoSquared\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hugh Hopkins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GoSquared\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/gosquaredteam\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/go-squared-ltd.\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoSquared\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoSquared\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/gosquared.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/gosquared.png\",\"width\":1270,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"GoSquared\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"GoSquared Blog\",\"description\":\"Turn visitors into customers.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups\",\"name\":\"Meaningful metrics for startups - GoSquared Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meaningful metrics for startups\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/64199c56bfdd77ef0cdacb2fc2b57d20\"},\"headline\":\"Meaningful metrics for startups\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":843,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Analytics\",\"Measurement\",\"Metrics\",\"Slideshare\",\"Startups\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Success\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/64199c56bfdd77ef0cdacb2fc2b57d20\",\"name\":\"Hugh Hopkins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f571190db14d08cb79699d64f58e31e75dafde9cd3fb02a8f373da3743f156c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f571190db14d08cb79699d64f58e31e75dafde9cd3fb02a8f373da3743f156c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hugh Hopkins\"},\"description\":\"Hugh heads up Business Development at GoSquared.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/gosquared.com\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HughHopkins\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/author\/hugh\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meaningful metrics for startups - GoSquared Blog","description":"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meaningful metrics for startups","og_description":"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups","og_site_name":"GoSquared Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoSquared","article_published_time":"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"\/\/static.gosquared.com\/images\/liquidicity\/16_08_25_metrics_01.png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@HughHopkins","twitter_site":"@GoSquared","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hugh Hopkins","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"GoSquared","url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/gosquaredteam","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/go-squared-ltd.","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoSquared","https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoSquared"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/gosquared.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/gosquared.png","width":1270,"height":250,"caption":"GoSquared"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/","name":"GoSquared Blog","description":"Turn visitors into customers.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups","name":"Meaningful metrics for startups - GoSquared Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00","description":"Analytics and metrics are difficult. We share our tips and tricks on the best metrics for startups to measure and follow.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meaningful metrics for startups"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/64199c56bfdd77ef0cdacb2fc2b57d20"},"headline":"Meaningful metrics for startups","datePublished":"2016-08-25T10:57:47+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-28T11:25:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#webpage"},"wordCount":843,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Analytics","Measurement","Metrics","Slideshare","Startups"],"articleSection":["Customer Success"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/meaningful-metrics-for-startups#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/64199c56bfdd77ef0cdacb2fc2b57d20","name":"Hugh Hopkins","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f571190db14d08cb79699d64f58e31e75dafde9cd3fb02a8f373da3743f156c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f571190db14d08cb79699d64f58e31e75dafde9cd3fb02a8f373da3743f156c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hugh Hopkins"},"description":"Hugh heads up Business Development at GoSquared.","sameAs":["http:\/\/gosquared.com","https:\/\/twitter.com\/HughHopkins"],"url":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/author\/hugh"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"How to focus on the right metrics at the right time","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}