Article · Medium read (about 15 min)

I'm Sorry, But Those Are Vanity Metrics

Lloyd Tabb (via First Round Review) · First Round Review Free Intermediate

This is the practical answer to 'define your own two or three metrics.' Tabb splits numbers into vanity metrics (downloads, registered users, dollars raised: points of comparison for other people to evaluate you) and clarity metrics (the ones that actually tell you if your specific business is healthy). It even gives per-model examples: pickup time for ride-hailing, delivery speed and repeat rate for e-commerce, active minutes for software.

  • Vanity metrics exist to let outsiders rank you; clarity metrics exist to help you make decisions, so pick the ones that answer a real question about your business
  • The right metric is model-specific: measure the leading indicator of a happy customer (repeat purchase, pickup time, active minutes), not the biggest impressive number
  • When a number looks weird, call the actual user instead of running another dashboard: direct signal beats a feed
Open on review.firstround.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. Everyone around me is raising huge rounds and posting wins on LinkedIn. How do I run my own race without spiraling?

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