Which Metrics Should I Track?

As a founder, data is your copilot. You should know your most important numbers if you’re going to grow your business.

You don’t have to be a metrics savant, though. I’ve seen founders build relatively successful businesses without getting mired in the numbers (though often in spite of that fact, not because of it). I’ve also seen many companies take longer to gain traction because their founders don’t track basic metrics—or put too much emphasis on the wrong ones.

Your two most important metrics are MRR and month-over-month growth rate. Those are the top-line numbers that indicate how far you’ve traveled and how fast you’re going. Every SaaS founder should look at these numbers on at least a weekly basis.

But MRR and growth rate are lagging indicators.

To that end, I’m going to give you a metrics framework called 3 High/3 Low to help you zero in on the other important key performance indicators of your business.

(Note: These are overall business metrics. Separately, there are marketing funnel metrics you should track, which we covered in the chapter on marketing.)

Tracking the 3 High/3 Low Metrics (six in total) will tell you two important things:

1. How healthy your business is
2. When your revenue is going to plateau

These metrics aren’t difficult to track. A dashboard like ProfitWell, ChartMogul, or Baremetrics can connect to your payment processor and give you the data at a glance.

You’ll notice that many of these six are in tension with each other. You want the Low Metrics to be as low as possible and the High Metrics as high as possible, but often when one is going down, it’s causing another to increase.

I’ll provide some rules of thumb in the following section, but keep in mind that your product, ideal customer, and industry will have a substantial impact on these numbers.