Daniel Ku’s Post

“I don’t know how to start tracking my growth metrics.” Let me eliminate that excuse for you right now with this simple guide. Here’s how it works: Key Metrics to Track → Churn Rate → Customer Growth Rate → Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) → Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) → Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Why You Need These Metrics → Optimize sales & marketing efforts → Track startup growth trajectory → Guide investor presentations → Evaluate product-market fit What to Do Next → Monitor the LTV/CAC ratio → Keep a close eye on churn to ensure growth → Focus on increasing MRR to show strong PMF If you follow this strategy, you’ll have a clear view of your startup’s health and growth potential. Now, get started! PS. Grab a high-res image at: https://lnkd.in/g7ShBpyx PPS. Join 5,000 people at: thestartupfinance.com

One of the conversations we have over and over again with founders is this one around how to get further funding from their investors. And the conversation we have with investors is that their founders aren't great at sharing information about their financials. What we find is most founders are unknowingly creating this road block with their investors, so how do you communicate more successfully with your investors? Understand your key business metrics and talk to them consistently. The key metrics will be different from business to business but typical metrics could cover Topline revenue, split by geography or product if relevant Gross margin Net margin Number of customers Average revenue or spend per customer New customers or clients Customer churn (lost customers) Net new customers or clients (Gross new less lost customers) Customer acquisition cost The important thing here is not to just understand what the key metrics are driving the business but maintaining consistency in the calculation (unless there is a clear reason, clearly communicated for the change) and show trending over time so investors can understand what is happening in the business

“We don’t do a great job of measuring results” “Our customers don’t know how to quantify results” - Every marketer trying to get metrics for a case study at some point Outcome metrics are the holy grail of customer proof. 🔢 🔥 So when you get them, plaster those puppies in more places than a case study. I love how Mutiny uses real customer results front + center on their homepage, backing up their value prop claims (a la April Dunford). ...BUT WAIT, HOW DO YOU GET THEM? 4 hacks for getting metrics from your customers to use as proof: 👉 Multi-thread: User buyers may not know the business metrics, so you want to cover metrics and outcome Qs with exec sponsors. 👉 Ask for estimates in follow up Qs - e.g. customer tells you they increased output, you ask "That's great - if you had to guess, how many more are you able to create each week?" 👉 Dig for efficiency proxy metrics - if you can't get outcome metrics, ask for proxy metrics like how much time users are saving 👉 Forget full causality - ask for business metrics that went along with using your product, e.g. lead gen increase over a period of time.

Cut your CAC in half, double your profit – without spending a dime more. Businesses are burning cash on customer acquisition. Yet, 68% don’t even know their true CAC. Tracking it isn’t optional anymore – it’s your competitive edge. Ask yourself: Are you pouring money into channels that just don’t convert? Or worse, ignoring the data altogether? The game changes when you track every dollar from lead gen to sale. You’ll know what’s working – and where to stop wasting time. The path to profit isn’t always about selling more; it’s about spending smarter. Double down on what works. Ditch what doesn’t. Simple. #BusinessGrowth #CustomerAcquisition #MarketingStrategy #DataDriven

If you think forecasting deals is tough, forecasting churn and renewals is a WHOLE different beast. BUT… The rewards are well worth it. One of the rewards is improved customer retention. At BoostUp, we’ve built next-level capabilities to forecast renewals, expansions, and churn - and now, we’re sharing what we’ve learned with you. We just dropped a white paper that covers all about mastering renewal forecasting: 1️⃣ The foundational elements you can’t afford to miss 2️⃣ Tech that actually works for forecasting renewals and churn 3️⃣ A step-by-step guide to mastering the process 4️⃣ How to hold your team accountable and hit those forecasts If you own renewals, this is the blueprint you need to dominate. Download the white paper now and level up your retention game. 👇 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eMkyM_qE

Founders should embrace win-loss analysis from day 1 to drive growth. How? 1. Identify key reasons behind customer decisions: Understanding why customers choose your product or competitor’s will reveal critical insights you can turn into action 2. Improve product development: Feedback from lost deals can inform product development, aligning features with customer needs 3. Improve sales strategy: Analyzing wins and losses will help you to refine outreach cadences and improve pitch/demos 4. Build customer relationships: Engaging with customers post-decision, regardless of the outcome, builds trust and opens pathways for future opportunities 5. Strategic alignment: Insights from win-loss analysis can align marketing, sales, and product teams towards common goals Still undecided if you should start doing win-loss analysis? Best case: your product, marketing, and sales team will drastically improve and align with customer expectations. Worst case, even when a deal is lost, you gain a ton of valuable insights helping you to reflect on your current approach. That’s a win-win.

Half the companies are not able to report on their funnel. It’s not just ‘nice to have’ reporting. It’s the necessary data you need to drive improvements. 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. So how do you create a funnel that you can actually report on? It starts with definitions. Here are some examples to think about: • Does everyone in the Revenue team agree on what ‘sales qualified’ means? • Is naming the pipeline stage ‘Discovery’, ‘Presentation’, or ‘Negotiation’ really the best idea? Does that make it clear what needs to happen for a deal to enter or exit that stage? Take the ‘Discovery’ stage, for example. Personally, it leaves me with questions: Has discovery already happened? What was the outcome? Is it still supposed to happen? Clear definitions are the starting point for accurately measuring conversion rates and identifying bottlenecks along the funnel.

You work so hard to acquire new customers—and it’s our goal to help you keep them. With enhanced Churn Analysis, you have the tools you need to ... 💰 Increase retention and renewal revenue 🔎 Identify win-back opportunities 📈 Easily view churn data and trends We've made it easier than ever for you to understand exactly why your current customers choose to stay or leave. We're also rolling out a new product called Deal Drawer (simplified participant and outreach management for your program) and an updated, more modern Survey experience. Learn more about each of these product updates here —> https://lnkd.in/gc6r-S9s

Follow along on our ABM murder mystery and see what you think about the possibility of "Brian Journey" as the culprit. Talking about buyer journeys, I would love to hear about any challenges you may have with the development or use of your company's buyer journey!

We went from 0 --> £100k+ revenue in Year 1 And are on track to double that in Year 2. But the number 3 is far more important Why? Because this is the number of customers we have lost. Why did we lose them? Ex-Customer 1 - Not at the right stage for what they wanted from an outbound motion Ex-Customer 2 - Not enough time and runway to make it work Ex-Customer 3 - No product market fit What did we learn from that? 1. We now understand how to conduct better discovery so that we only work with companies we know we can deliver a result for. 2. We have improved our targeting to bring in more of the types of customers we want to serve. 3. To conduct rigorous market research to find blue ocean We are constantly striving for perfection so that we can aim to achieve excellence. It does not mean we will never fail or see customers churn (there is typically at best a 2-year cycle with an outsourced team - dependent on the level of partnership, industry etc). But it does mean we will do everything possible to make it work. The aim is to minimise the risk of outright failure as much as possible. Which is why we do for ourselves what we do for our customers. We are constantly experimenting and testing with new things to add to what we already do well and are seeing crazy results. More on that to come over the next few weeks. The fire burns bright!