#19 - How do we measure that?
Software is indeed eating the world. There was a time (and still is by many, to be honest) when “IT guys” were seen as the people that fixed IT issues usually left in back-office to sort out maintenance or being handed requirements documents. The Agile movement was a step towards working in cross-functional teams and we have seen that some of the most valuable companies of our time were indeed engineering-led.
As I get more involved with early-stage founding teams and figure out where I can be of most value I am still seeing some basic problems. This week one I was was vanity metrics and lack of data.
Pageviews doesn’t mean anything on it’s own. When creating a product/website one thing I believe everyone should do is reverse engineer the steps your user needs to take to get value out of your product as quick as possible because churn is a common issue. That’s not to say it’s the only thing that will optimise your experience - afterall there are growth gurus like Andrew Chen who live and breathe this stuff.
Read the slide below and start thinking about what KPI’s will help you objectively track the progress you need to make. Depending on your product you may be able to start off with something FREE like Google Analytics but there so many out there that may be more suited to your needs.
Let's Build Great Products
Dave McClure Startup Metrics For Pirates on Vimeo
Dave McCLure Pirate Metrics Slide
If you’re more a slide person
From Me To You Links & News
The Ultimate Startup Metrics Guide for VCs and Entrepreneurs
KPIs that VCs and Entrepreneurs Recommend To Grow A Successful Business
Helpful Tool(s)
The London Startup Guide
Curated by RocketSpace who aim to accelerate innovators in Tech and have a coworking space and hold events…this is their London Guide on all best meetups, events, coworking spaces, VCs, and more.