Every founder I meet has a dashboard. 

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Usually, it's crammed with 20+ metrics that flash red and green like a Christmas tree. They check it obsessively, debate the numbers in leadership meetings, and wonder why they're not seeing the growth they expected.

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Here's the uncomfortable truth: most of the metrics you're tracking are vanity numbers dressed up as insights. 

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After working with 50+ B2B SaaS companies, I've identified the metrics that actually predict sustainable growth and the ones that just make you feel busy.

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The 7 Metrics That Don't Actually Matter (But Everyone Tracks)

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1. Website Traffic

Why it's seductive: Big numbers feel good. "We had 50K visitors last month!"

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Why it's useless: Traffic without context is noise. Are these your ideal customers? Are they converting? I've seen companies with 100K monthly visitors generate less revenue than those with 5K targeted visitors.

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The reality: Unless you're a media company, traffic is a lagging indicator of other activities—not a growth driver itself.

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2. Social Media Followers

Why it's seductive: Visible social proof. Easy to benchmark against competitors.

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Why it's useless: Followers don't pay invoices. Your CFO doesn't care about your LinkedIn follower count when reviewing budget allocation.

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The reality: I've worked with companies that had 50K followers and struggled to hit their MRR targets, while competitors with 500 engaged followers scaled past them.

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3. Email Open Rates

Why it's seductive: Industry benchmarks make it feel scientific. Easy to optimise with A/B testing.

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Why it's useless: Opens don't equal engagement, and engagement doesn't equal revenue. iOS updates have made this metric even less reliable.

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The reality: Focus on what happens after they open—click-through rates, time spent reading, and conversion to trials.

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4. Brand Awareness

Why it's seductive: Feels strategic. C-suite loves brand discussions.

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Why it's useless: Awareness without intent is worthless. Being "known" doesn't mean being "chosen."

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The reality: For early-stage SaaS, awareness is a luxury. Focus on being found by people actively looking for your solution.

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5. Cost Per Click (CPC)

Why it's seductive: Directly controllable. Lower feels better.

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Why it's useless: Cheap clicks from wrong audience cost more than expensive clicks from right audience.

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The reality: A £50 CPC that converts at 15% beats a £5 CPC that converts at 0.5%.

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6. Market Share

Why it's seductive: Feels like winning. Investors love market position discussions.

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Why it's useless: Market share calculations in emerging categories are largely fiction. Plus, you can have high market share in a shrinking market.

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The reality: Focus on growing your addressable market, not your slice of it.

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7. Vanity Revenue Metrics (ARR without context)

Why it's seductive: ARR growth looks impressive on slides.

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Why it's useless: ARR without understanding composition (new vs. expansion vs. retention) tells you nothing about sustainability.

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The reality: £1M ARR built on annual contracts with 40% churn is less valuable than £500K ARR with 5% churn.

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The 3 Metrics That Actually Matter

1. Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

‍What it measures: The percentage of revenue retained from existing customers over time, including expansions and contractions.

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Why it matters: This is your growth engine. Companies with 110%+ NRR can grow without acquiring a single new customer. It reveals product-market fit, customer success effectiveness, and expansion opportunity.

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How to use it:

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• Below 90%: You have a retention crisis. Fix before scaling acquisition.
• 90-110%: Solid foundation. Focus on expansion opportunities.
• Above 110%: Growth multiplier activated. Scale acquisition confidently.

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Example: Company A acquires 100 customers at £1K MRR each (£100K total). After 12 months, 20 customers churned, but remaining 80 customers expanded to £1.5K average (£120K total). NRR = 120%.

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2. Time to Value (TTV)

What it measures: How long it takes new customers to achieve their first meaningful outcome with your product.

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Why it matters: This predicts churn, expansion, and advocacy. Customers who reach value quickly stay longer and spend more. It's your early warning system for product-market fit.

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How to use it:

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• Map your customer's "aha moment"—the specific action or outcome that predicts retention
• Measure time from signup to that moment
• Optimise onboarding to reduce TTV
• Use TTV to segment and prioritise customer success efforts

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Example: For a project management tool, TTV might be "first project completed with team collaboration." If this typically happens in 14 days, customers who hit it in 7 days have 60% higher retention.

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3. Qualified Pipeline Velocity

What it measures: How quickly qualified opportunities move through your sales process and convert to revenue.

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Why it matters: This reveals the health of your entire growth engine—from marketing qualified leads to closed revenue. It predicts future revenue more accurately than any other metric.

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How to calculate it: (Number of Qualified Opportunities × Average Deal Size × Win Rate) ÷ Sales Cycle Length

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How to use it:

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• Track by source to identify highest-quality lead generators
• Monitor changes over time—declining velocity often predicts revenue shortfalls
• Use to forecast revenue with higher accuracy than traditional methods

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Example: 50 qualified opps × £10K average deal × 25% win rate ÷ 90-day cycle = £1.39K per day pipeline velocity

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How to Implement This Framework

Week 1: Audit your current dashboard. Identify which metrics fall into the "vanity" category.

Week 2: Set up tracking for the three core metrics. You may need to define customer success milestones for TTV.

Week 3: Establish baseline measurements and targets for each metric.

Week 4: Begin weekly reviews focused only on these three metrics and their underlying drivers.

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The Bottom Line

Growth isn't about tracking everything—it's about tracking the right things.

These three metrics tell you:

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• Are customers getting value? (TTV)
• Are they staying and expanding? (NRR)
• Are you building a healthy sales engine? (Pipeline Velocity)

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Everything else is commentary.

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Most founders resist this simplicity. They want more data, more metrics, more complexity. But the companies that scale fastest are the ones that identify their core drivers and optimise relentlessly around them.

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Your dashboard should be a decision-making tool, not a data museum.

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What metrics are you tracking that probably don't matter? Drop me an email and let me know, I'd love to help you focus on what actually drives growth.