Adora Cheung - How to Set KPIs and Goals

Summary

В видео-лекции обсуждается важная роль ключевых показателей эффективности (KPI) и целей для стартапов на ранней ступени развития. Автор подчёркивает необходимость правильного определения KPI как количественных метрик, указывающих на состояние бизнеса. Основной показатель (primary metric) должен измерять, сколько ценности вы предоставляете клиентам и быть индикатором успеха. Лекция также затрагивает вторичные метрики, стратегию роста и рекомендации по установлению целей для достижения продукта с миллиардным потенциалом.

Takeaways

• 📊 KPI (Key Performance Indicator) определяется как набор количественных показателей, указывающих на состояние бизнеса.
• 🎯 Устанавливая правильные KPI и цели, можно объективно определить, идут ли дела хорошо, или плохо.
• 📉 Числа не обмануты, они могут служить обратной связью о том, насколько эффективна текущая стратегия компании.
• ⚠️ Неправильно выбранные KPI могут направить стартап в неправильном направлении и привести к ненужному концу.
• 🔑 Основной показатель (primary metric) - это единственный ключевой показатель, на который компания готова поставить всю компанию.
• 💰 Основной показатель должен измерять, сколько ценности вы предоставляете клиентам, например, через доход или активных пользователей.
• 🔄 Он также должен показывать, обеспечивает ли ваш продукт постоянную или долгосрочную ценность для пользователя.
• 📈 Основной показатель должен быть индикатором успеха, когда ценность уже была предоставлена.
• 🔄 Он должен использоваться как механизм обратной связи, чтобы приоритизировать стратегии и принимать решения быстро.
• 🚀 Приоритетные метрики делятся на первичные и вторичные, с акцентом на первичных в данной лекции.
• 🤔 Выбор между доходом и активными пользователями в качестве основного показателя зависит от типа бизнеса и моделей его работы.
• 🛑 Для стартапов, которые еще не запущены, важнее сосредоточиться на определении проблемы и целевой аудитории, чем на метриках.
• 📉 Для стартапов существует диапазон хороших темпов роста, варьрующихся от 20% до 200% в месяц, с акцентом на 20-50%.
• 📈 Успешное достижение цели роста основного показателя подтверждает, что вы создаете что-то, что хотят множественные люди, и что это может достигать и обслуживать всех этих людей.
• 📈 Установление еженедельной цели роста помогает делить прогресс на осуществимые части и быстро получать обратную связь.
• 🎯 При установке целей следует быть амбициозными, но также реалистически оценивать, что является достижимым на основе продукта и пользователей.
• 📊 Используйте метрики и цели как мотивационный инструмент, следите за своими достижениями и корректируйте стратегию в случае неудач.
• 🔄 Несколько недель неудачного роста не является катастрофой, но требует анализа причин и корректировки подходов.
• 🔄 Если вы не знаете, как преодолеть препятствия для достижения еженедельных целей, общайтесь с пользователями и избегайте зацикливание в проблемах.

Q & A

Что означает аббревиатура KPI и как она связана с начальным этапом стартапа?

KPI означает 'ключевые показатели эффективности'. Они являются набором количественных показателей, указывающих на состояние бизнеса. Для стартапов на начальном этапе KPI помогают объективно определить, как хорошо или плохо идет бизнес.

Почему на начальном этапе стартапа важны правильные KPI и цели?

Правильные KPI и цели являются необходимым условием для успешного старта или построения успешного стартапа. Они помогают определить, насколько хорошо или плохо идет бизнес, и служат обратной связью для стратегий, таких как привлечение пользователей или внедрение новых функций.

Что такое первичный показатель и как определить его для своего бизнеса?

Первичный показатель - это один ключевой показатель, на который вы готовы поставить всю компанию. Он должен измерять, сколько ценности вы предоставляете клиентам и быть индикатором успеха, который отражает уже предоставленную ценность.

Какие характеристики должны иметь хороший первичный показатель?

Хороший первичный показатель должен измерять предоставленную ценность, показывать, является ли продукт или услуга постоянным истоком ценности, быть отставающим индикатором успеха и использоваться как механизм обратной связи для приоритизации стратегий и быстрого принятия решений.

Почему некоторые стартапы могут выбирать число активных пользователей в качестве первичного показателя?

Число активных пользователей может быть выбрано в качестве первичного показателя, если для бизнеса требуется большой аудиторией для монетизации, например, в рекламной модели, или если существуют сильные сетевые эффекты, требующие большого количества пользователей для запуска и роста платформы.

Что такое вторичные показатели и как их выбирать?

Вторичные показатели - это набор других показателей, выбираемых для более полного понимания состояния компании. Их выбор зависит от бизнеса, и их количество обычно ограничен от трех до пяти, чтобы избежать анализа паралича.

Какова целостная стратегия по установлению целей для первичного показателя?

Стратегия включает в себя установление ежеседмого темпа роста первичного показателя, который должен быть амбициозным, но достижимым, и основан на продуктах, пользователях и бизнес-моделях конкретной компании.

Какие темпы роста рекомендуются для стартапов на начальном этапе?

Для стартапов рекомендуется стремиться к темпам роста от 5% до 10% в неделю, что эквивалентно 20% до 50% в месяц. Это основано на наблюдениях за темпами роста успешных стартапов на демо-днях YC.

Как стартапы могут использовать свои метрики и цели для мотивации и приоритизации?

Метрики и цели могут быть использованы как инструменты мотивации, например, путем создания графика роста и отслеживания его еженедельно. Они также помогают приоритизировать идеи и действия для достижения еженедельных целей.

Чем отличается подход к настройке целей для стартапов с нуля от уже запущенных?

Для стартапов с нуля важнее сосредоточиться на определении проблемы и целевой аудитории, а не на метриках. Однако, как только начинается разработка продукта, рекомендуется определить первичный показатель и цели, чтобы сосредоточиться на целевой аудитории и первоначальной привлекательности пользователей.

Какие общие рекомендации можно дать при определении целей для стартапа?

При определении целей важно учитывать факторы, такие как наличие реальной проблемы и большой рыночной деманды, время на заключение сделки, различие между органическим и платным ростом, а также стремиться к экспоненциальным, а не линейным целям.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Определение ключевых показателей эффективности и целей для стартапов

В этом параграфе обсуждается важность корректного определения KPI и целей для раннего этапа стартапа. KPI определяется как набор количественных показателей, указывающих на состояние бизнеса. Автор подчёркивает, что правильные KPI и цели помогут объективно оценить успешность компании, выявить сильные и слабые стороны, а также корректно определить стратегию развития. Основное внимание уделяется первичному показателю, который должен быть выбрано с учётом четырёх характеристик: количественной оценки предоставляемой ценности, повторяемости или устойчивости ценности, отражения успешности и возможности использования в качестве обратной связи для принятия решений.

05:02

🔍 Выбор первичного показателя: рекрутинг или активные пользователи

Автор рассматривает два основных первичных показателя: рекрутинг (денежные средства) и активные пользователи. Он подчёркивает преимущества использования рекрутинга в качестве первичного показателя, так как это наиболее прямое указание на предоставление реальной ценности. Однако, в некоторых случаях, например, в случае с бизнес-моделью, основанной на рекламе, или при наличии сильных сетевых эффектов, может быть более подходящим выбором активные пользователи. Также автор предупреждает о ловушках, связанных с выбором неправильного первичного показателя и обсуждает, как определить пользователя и пользователя для рынков с двумя типами клиентов.

10:02

🛠 Исключения для био- и нанотехнологий: технические достижения в качестве первичного показателя

Для стартапов в био- и нанотехнологиях первичным показателем может быть не рекрутинг или активные пользователи, а технические достижения, которые подтверждают работоспособность продукта. В таких отраслях, где требуется значительная временная задержка и инвестиции для запуска продукта, первичным показателем может быть достижение технических метрик, связанных с разработкой и подтверждением концепции продукта. Автор рекомендует просмотреть лекции, посвящённые этой теме, для более глубокого понимания подходов к определению целей и метрик для таких стартапов.

15:03

🌟 Понимание и определение целей роста для первичного показателя

В этом параграфе обсуждается, как определить целевой темп роста первичного показателя. Автор предлагает рассмотреть темпы роста успешных стартапов на ранних этапах и выявить, что средний темп роста варьируется от 20% до 200% в месяц, с группировкой в районе 20-50%. Он также объясняет, что для достижения значимого роста стартапу необходимо сосредоточиться на ежегодных целях и разбить их на более мелкие, доступные для выполнения задачи. Кроме того, автор подчёркивает важность честности в определении целей и использования первичного показателя в качестве инструмента для мотивации и приоритизации задач.

20:04

📈 Настройка и отслеживание целей роста с использованием первичного показателя

Автор дает рекомендации по настройке и отслеживанию целей роста с использованием первичного показателя. Он предлагает использовать еженедельный график для визуализации стремления к заданным целям и подчёркивает, что несоответствие плана является нормальной ситуацией, требующей анализа причин и корректировки стратегии. Автор также подчёркивает важность честного отслеживания прогресса и использования первичного показателя для принятия решений о приоритетности задач и определении основных препятствий на пути к достижению целей.

Keywords

💡KPI

KPI (ключевые показатели эффективности) в контексте видео обозначает набор количественных метрик, которые показывают, насколько хорошо ваш бизнес работает. Они являются важным условием для успешного старта или построения успешного стартапа, поскольку позволяют объективно определить состояние бизнеса и дают обратную связь о стратегиях и действиях компании.

💡Ценность продукта

В видео под ценностью продукта подразумевается, насколько продукт ценится потребителями, что обычно указывает на готовность пользователей платить за него или тратить на него время. Это фундаментально для определения, успешно ли стартап доставляет ценность и насколько пользователи его хотят.

💡Первичный показатель

Первичный показатель (primary metric) - это ключевой показатель, который стартап выбирает для оценки своего успеха. В видео это понятие связано с тем, что стартап должен выбирать один показатель, который будет являться основой для определения состояния бизнеса и роста.

💡Вторичные показатели

Вторичные показатели (secondary metrics) в видео представляют собой дополнительные метрики, которые выбираются вместе с первичным показатelem для более полного понимания состояния бизнеса. Они помогают получить более глобальное представление о здоровье компании.

💡Циклический показатель

Циклический показатель (recurring indicator) в видео описывает показатель, который показывает, насколько продукт предоставляет постоянную или долгосрочную ценность пользователю. Например, ежемесячный повторяющийся доход (MRR) для SaaS-услуг.

💡Отставающий показатель

Отставающий показатель (lagging indicator) в контексте видео - это показатель, который отражает уже произошедшую ценность. Он используется для определения успешности компании на основе прошлых результатов, в отличие от предшествующих показателей, которые предсказывают будущий успех.

💡Активные пользователи

Активные пользователи (active users) в видео определяются как те, кто регулярно использует продукт, например, ежедневно или еженедельно. Это показатель важный для оценки, насколько продукт ценится и используется потребителями.

💡Месячный повторяющийся доход

Месячный повторяющийся доход (MRR - Monthly Recurring Revenue) в видео рассматривается как сильный первичный показатель для определения успешности SaaS-стартапов, так как он демонстрирует, что пользователи готовы платить регулярно за продолжение использования продукта.

💡Ценность для пользователей

В видео ценность для пользователей подразумевает, что продукт или услуга действительно решает проблему пользователя и предоставляет им постоянную или периодическую ценность, что является основой для повторяющегося использования или оплаты.

💡Органическое и платное развитие

Органическое развитие в видео относится к росту пользователя, который происходит благодаря рекомендациям или самостоятельному обнаружению продукта, без внешних затрат на привлечение. Платное развитие означает использование марктинговых средств для привлечения пользователей, что в ранних стадиях стартапа может считаться нечестным способом роста.

💡Цели роста

Цели роста в видео обсуждаются в контексте настройки первичного показателя и определения темпов роста, которые стартап должен достигать для демонстрации успешности и потенциала достижения значимых рыночных результатов. Это включает в себя еженедельный или ежемесячный рост и использование этих целей для мотивации и определения приоритетов.

Highlights

KPIs are defined as quantitative metrics indicating the health of a business.

Correct KPI and goal setting is crucial for building a successful startup.

KPIs provide objective measures to assess business performance and strategy effectiveness.

Primary metrics should be a single, critical indicator of business health.

A good primary metric quantifies the value delivered to customers.

Primary metrics should reflect recurring or enduring value to users.

Primary metrics should be lagging indicators for success.

Primary metrics should serve as a feedback mechanism for strategy prioritization.

Revenue or active users are the two main options for primary metrics.

Revenue, especially recurring, is the most direct measure of customer value.

Free users may provide different feedback than paying customers.

Active users can be a proxy for revenue in advertising-based models or strong network effects.

Defining 'user' appropriately is key when using active users as a metric.

Exceptions exist for biotech or hard tech startups where product viability is still uncertain.

Secondary metrics provide a comprehensive view of company health.

Setting weekly growth rates helps in achieving exponential growth for startups.

Growth rates of successful startups range from 20% to 200% month over month.

Startups should aim for a growth rate of 5-10% week over week.

Small variations in weekly growth rates can significantly impact long-term outcomes.

Startups should set ambitious yet achievable growth goals based on their unique circumstances.

Factors like market size, time to sale, and organic growth should inform goal setting.

Tracking progress against goals is essential for motivating and guiding a startup's direction.

Honesty in reporting metrics and goals is crucial for effective startup management.

Transcripts

all right so i am going to be talking

about setting your kpis and goals

for early stage startups so i'm going to

be pretty pedantic in this lecture and

the reason why is

doing this correctly is a necessary

condition for

starting as successful or building a

successful startup

so the acronym kpi stands for key

performance indicator

if you google around for it there are

actually many definitions of what this

actually means but for the purpose of

today for this context i'm going to

define it

as a set of quantitative metrics that

indicate how healthy your business is

doing so

this is important because obviously you

should know what state your business

is in at all times so setting the right

kpis and goals will objectively tell you

if you're doing well just okay or bad

so nothing keeps you more grounded

humbled and realistic about where you

are than a bunch of numbers because if

you interpret those numbers correctly

they don't lie

it'll also act as a feedback mechanism

for whether your current strategy like

user acquisition

building new features launching new

features and so on and so forth

are actually working so if you do

something and things go up that's

probably good

if you do something some things go down

that's probably bad

and it will and it will not only help

you prioritize your time but also

uh course correct so it follows if you

do this incorrectly if you set

your kpis and goals incorrectly you can

direct your startup

into a bunch of circles or if you do it

for too long

on to the wrong path it will lead to its

unnecessary demise

so what are the right kpis to set i'm

going to break this down into

two pieces primary metric and secondary

metrics

and most of today is going to be focused

on the primary metric

so every week in startup school we've

asked you in the software

to fill out to define your primary

metric

and then update its current value by

definition you can only pick one

um one primary metric and as the metric

if you if you had to you'd

be willing to bet the whole company on

so why just

one metric uh it's a way to focus and

keep things very simple if there's a way

to get 90 of the job done

with just one variable that's better

than having a bunch of variables that

gets

let's say 91 of the job done um in this

case the job to get done is quickly

determining

how well your startup is doing so what

are the characteristics of a good

primary metric there are four of them

uh one so your primary metrics should

quantify how much value you're

delivering to your customer

that is you obviously want to build

something that people want

now how much do they actually want it

and users often indicate the value

through either training

uh you through money or time

so revenue is always the best metric i

pay you a hundred dollars to use your

product your software i must at least

value that

a hundred dollars um active users uh

using the product once a week

or uh once a day we call that weekly

active user daily active user

is a weaker but another good decent

indication of whether you're delivering

value or not

the second one here is it your primary

metric must capture

whether your product is recurring or

enduring value to your user

or it should anyway so for example in

assassto most sas tools use

mrr monthly recurring revenue

as their primary metric i commit to

forking over 100 bucks a month

continuously every month because your

product demonstrates to me every month

um that has value to me another example

is if you're building an online digital

daily newspaper then obviously dau daily

active user is a good one because i

expect you

i expect to be delivering content to you

that is valuable to you every single day

so hopefully you'll come back every day

the third one here is your primary

metric should be a lagging indicator for

success

so a common trap that founders do to

trick themselves is by picking a primary

metric

let's say something like email signups

because one it's easy to move

but while it may eventually influence

revenue

or actual usage it actually doesn't

represent

real value the best so the best

indication is when

the value has already been delivered

it's already occurred

so when someone has already forked over

their time or money then to use it then

that is what a ladder

that's a definition of what a lagging

indicator is

so if revenue increases it's because

more customers

have already paid for the product's

value versus a potential customer who

came to your site

gave you an email and maybe they'll sign

up one day or maybe they'll use your

product one day

to buy something and lastly your primary

metric should be usable as a feedback

mechanism

that is it helps you prioritize

strategies and make decisions quickly

in a startup one of the key things to be

to being successful in getting past

product market fit stages to iterate

very fast right

so while you want it to be a lagging

indicator you also don't want it to lag

too much so for example a lot of people

pick mau monthly active user

but this is but but uh this is usually

not a great metric because it takes time

to understand the impact of movement

um especially in a startup this early as

in your startup

and so many things can happen within a

month

and also another reason why i don't like

mau generally is because

if your user only comes back once a

month they only value something that

you're building once a month i really

question actually if you're solving a

real problem

all right so you may have guessed from

me talking about these four characters

characteristics of a primary metric that

there are really

two primary metrics to pick from so one

is either revenue

or active users ideally you're picking

revenue because nothing tells you more

about delivering real value than people

forking over handing over

real hard earned dollars to you um

and even better is picking revenue that

people keep giving you over and over and

over again like monthly recurring review

mrr

it's the best test for whether people

really want what you're making

so that being said some people do pick

revenue but a common trap they fall into

is that they don't actually get paid and

usually i hear something to the variant

of

oh i'm going to get these i have these

1000 users not paying me anything

i just want to get their feedback and

see how they're using the product and

make a little bit better and then

eventually

i'll get them to pay or the next 1000

users i'll get them to pay

that's a trap because free users will

give you different types of feedback

than users who are actually paying you

um paid users are just more serious

about the product and hopefully will be

more serious about giving you feedback

so i urge you to just get paid

[Music]

all right so what are reasons why

so kevin in an early lecture said 99 of

you

should actually use revenue as your

primary metric so what are reasons why

you should

um consider active users so one main one

is because

you because building a large audience is

actually a prerequisites to

modernization

so an example of this is if your

business model is advertising based like

a facebook or google

then yeah you need millions and millions

of users coming back to your site every

day

before you can actually get brands and

people to buy ads

and so in this case active users is

actually a reasonable proxy for revenue

because eventually when your startup

starts making money it's usually

just revenue is just a multiple of your

active users

another reason is also but much much

more

much more rare is if you have very

strong network effects that is if you're

like a marketplace that requires

tons of users to just get the flywheel

going and grow

then maybe that's a reason for you to

focus on active users today

versus uh revenue and then just do

revenue later down the road

now that being said if you're using

active users as a metric

it's important that you define user

appropriately

i hear often i ask okay how many users

do or

what's your primary metric uh active

users how many users have i have 100

users

what does users mean in that situation

sometimes to people it means

100 users that just signed up and gave

you an email sometimes it means

100 users that signed up and start using

a product and come back every day for

about 10 minutes a day

which is by far much better than just

people just

like little dabbling on your site right

so you really need to get that

definition correctly and don't trick

yourself by just saying users and get

having a really

easy definition of users

another another example of users where

it's not exactly users is if you're in a

marketplace

and there are two types of customers or

two types of users so a good example is

airbnb

who are your two users you have not just

the guests

but you also have the hosts so what are

you to do how do you

how do you pick just one well you pick a

value that actually represents

um them both getting value so in thermis

case it would be knights booked

right another example is uber so who are

your two users there you have

riders and you have drivers and so an

example of a primary metric you could

pick there is

weekly trips okay all right

so uh there are always exceptions to the

rules

and there are there is one exception in

which

your primary metric is neither revenue

or active users

and that is if you run a biotech a hard

tech business

and you're still trying to figure out

whether the science or tech

is actually going to work can you

actually build a product

um and another definition of this is uh

for our biotech card documents

businesses it it often takes a lot of

time and money to get

your first product to market so what's a

founder to do especially you have little

little funding

so there's two answers to this one is if

there are no regulatory issues to doing

sales pre-product

you should actually do the same as

everyone else it should be most likely

revenue your primary metrics should be

revenue in the form of paid contracts

lois

poc's proof of contracts proof that if

you build it they will actually come

now if you are in a space with

regulatory issues meaning you can't sell

it at all

um without having to go through like fda

or some kind of body like that

then your product primary metric is

actually less quantitative per se

and more of a binary thing so it's about

figuring out the technical milestones

that you that you need to demonstrate to

mitigate the risk

of whether the drug or tech is working

so if you have to think about experience

to prove this out you can ask a question

like what are what minimal things i need

to do to truly answer

the question of whether this works or

not so if

you fall into this category i urge you

to actually just go watch

these two lectures uh they're actually

firesat chat chats i did

last startup school with elizabeth and

eric

elizabeth is an expert in biotech and

eric is an expert in hard tech and they

actually go through

deep deep dive into how do you think

about your goals and how do you think

about your milestones

and what metrics to actually track all

right

so people have referred

to the primary metric as a north star

metric and i actually don't like the

term north star because it kind of

people have interpreted as something you

just focus on this one metric and then

ignore

everything else um but like i said

earlier there's

no metric that actually tells the story

that tells 100 of the story maybe 90

but not 100 and so sometimes founders

fool themselves

by literally only tracking their primary

metric and nothing else

um so a common example is just looking

at user growth and just ignoring

retention completely

but retention is obviously just as

important to user growth as it is

as is a new user acquisition

so one suggestion i have is to

select a set of three to five other

metrics secondary metrics to pair with

your primary metric

this gives you a good 360 degree

overview

of the health of your company so there

are a ton to choose from so many choose

from

what you choose is actually very

dependent on your business

next week we're going to have two

lectures on these sorts of metrics

for consumer i'll be giving one on

consumer startups and

another yc partner i knew will be giving

one on b2b companies

and so we'll deep dive into metrics

these metrics

next week uh the key here though

is just picking a few right uh at most

fives

three to five close to probably the

three um you don't want to boil the

ocean and pick everything

it's totally fine to track all this kind

of stuff but it's really not a good idea

to optimize too many at once to really

just suffer from analysis paralysis

all right so a common question i have

when i say you should

what is your primary metric you should

set one is well what if i haven't

launched yet

well obviously metrics don't matter if

you don't know what the problem you're

solving is you don't even know who your

customer is yet you should really just

focus on that first

um you'd be really putting the cart

before the horse by

worrying too much about this kind of

stuff that said

once you get to the point where you're

building the product it's really a good

idea to get this down even if you

haven't launched yet

by at least defining your primary metric

you'll be able to think about who your

user really is

uh you get everyone on the same page on

who you're targeting and even you can

hypoth

use the metrics and goals to hypothesize

on how you might get your first few

users

and trust me nothing is more motivating

than staring down the barrel

of zero users and zero dollars of

revenue

for weeks on end you're going to get

very antsy about launching

um very quickly and that's that's

actually the effect you want

all right so i'm going to go into how do

you set goals

for your primary metric for for your

kpis

so paul graham actually wrote a great

essay a few years ago

called startup equals growth and

explains why startups should focus on

growth and i really urge you to go read

it

and this section of this lecture draws a

lot of insights from it

the goal of your startup is to grow your

primary metric by doing this it does two

things

it proves that you're making something

lots of people want

and second it proves you're making

something that has a possibility of

reaching and serving

all those people each week your goal

should actually be to set a weekly uh

growth rate

now we use weekly increments because

startups early on

need frequent feedback from their users

to tweak what they're doing

but also we use weekly growth right

because it helps to divide

up the progress you need into doable

chunks so

say your goal in a couple months is to

get 10 000 daily active users

which requires growing new users let's

say 10 week over week

to grow 10 this week may amount to

actually just getting a hundred new

users

which is a different problem to solve

than trying to get

10 000 new users right

you should be focusing on what's

directly ahead of you in that week

do things that don't scale today if

that's actually the best way to get

those hundred users

and don't worry about the eventual goal

of ten thousand

too soon so naturally the next question

is how fast should i grow

what should this rate actually be

well there's no good formula there's no

right formula for this

but one angle that we could tackle it

from is

looking at good startups and seeing how

fast they were growing in the beginning

stages

of their life so i actually went back

and i looked at

the good startups who pitched in recent

yc demo days uh so these if you think

about these startups they were

three months prior they were all in the

phase that you are probably in today

and it turns out the growth rates range

anywhere from

twenty to two hundred percent month over

month but clustered more closely to

twenty to fifty percent month over month

which you could back up

back it out it amounts to about five to

ten percent week over week

um and so this chart uh just to explain

it real quickly

uh the left-hand column is the weekly

growth rate and then

these are the equivalents that you need

to grow by month and then what the

multiple is by year

so this is actually in line if you read

that essay pg wrote a few years ago

which he said a good growth rate during

yc is five to ten

five to seven percent a week if you can

hit 10 a week you're doing exceptionally

well

and so this is the green area which

we've seen consistently actually

um in the recent batches of yc

so growth is a little hard to grok but

if you look at this chart you'll see

that how small variations

in weekly growth rates can make a huge

difference on the monthly and yearly

time horizon you also get the sense that

to get big

fast it actually seems doable if you

have something people want

on the flip side if you only manage one

percent uh weekly growth

it's a sign you haven't figured out

things yet it doesn't mean that you have

a horrible business you can run a great

small profitable business growing one

percent

week over week but it's not a good sign

that you have a startup with a billion

dollar potential

so you should think about that trade off

there and what you really want out of

your business

uh if you're growing uh at that rate

um that said the main thing uh in terms

of setting

your goals is is to think for yourself

uh is to define your own goal based on

not what others are doing but what you

think is ambitious

and achievable based on the product

you're building

so you knew your users and business

better than everyone else

what does success look like like for you

and what does being on track look

like to you so here are some general

guidelines

uh when defining a goal all right

first um if you're solving a real

problem in a large market

then that means there's a ton of latent

demand out there uh

people will use of just about anything

to use your product even if it's half

broken half baked or just solves a bit

of their problem

which means that startups usually have

fast initial growth

that said where you are today matters so

if you have a ton of users and a ton of

revenue

you will probably know that at that

volume as a volume increases

what you need every week to grow gets

harder over time

so again most startups they grow very

quickly and then over some time they

kind of

the growth rate kind of slows down a

little bit the second one is time to

sale so

when you try to set your goal you need

to consider how long it takes to acquire

user and make a sale

so for a consumer startup generally you

have an app or a website

i show up to it i look at it i see if i

want it

and then if i do bam i buy it or i sign

up for it

and so it's instantaneous for an

enterprise startup where

you're actually probably going through

some red tape um you have a bunch of

stakeholders you have to deal with

um and it just like you you can show up

to the company and they're not going to

even buy it right away because you're

maybe not even talking to the right

person

so it might take some months to actually

get your first sale so you'll have to

take that in account

over time this time to sale

should actually decrease over time like

good enterprise startups

that time sale goes from months to

hopefully days um

uh if not hours and so it shouldn't

impact your growth rate

in the future but in the near term it

actually might

uh third is you really want to focus on

organic

versus paid users or paid growth in the

beginning organic means they discover it

through word of mouth

basically you're not paying for the user

they kind of just

may be searching for it and using it

themselves i think in the early days

using paid users is actually cheating

growth

and you should avoid it as much as

possible and finally

because your startup startups equals

growth you should focus on exponential

goals and not

linear goals all right

so in terms of picking the goals i think

there's two ways to do it

one you can just pick a growth rate

and then pick up growth rate that you

can you think you can hit and if you hit

it great you probably should change it

if you're hitting it consistently

to something higher if you don't if

you're not hitting it then you should be

a little bit alarmed and you should

figure out

why another way to do it is time box an

absolute goal

so what i mean by for that is say for

for the purpose of startup school

at the end of startup school how many

active users or how much revenue do you

want to have

how what what would it look like what

would something meaningful look like at

the end of

10 weeks then go back out your weekly

growth rate

and then go week to week figure out the

obstacles and how you should

hit that hit that weekly goal in the

beginning

if you're somewhere close to zero users

today uh often you'll get something

higher if you

higher if you do this method than five

to seven percent week over week

tracking progress so metrics and goals

obviously don't mean anything if you

don't leverage them use these as a

motivational tool so one way to do this

is get a piece of paper draw a

forward-looking graph

of what the growth you want to hit in

the next 10 weeks print it out and put

it everywhere put on top of your desk

put on the bathroom mirror put on the

fridge

and update once and once once a week

this is in fact what airbnb founders did

in the beginning

and if they hit the numbers great if

they did not and that's all they would

talk about and so i would follow

something to

like this now you want to leverage your

parametric and goal

to help you prioritize your time week

over week so week to week you should be

stack ranking all the ideas you have of

how to grow it

and make a good guess on what's going to

have the biggest impact for the next

week to meeting your goal

and then choose accordingly occasionally

you won't hit your goal for the week

we can dream that our growth will be

flawless and look like this

but in reality in the beginning it

always looks something like this

it's okay if you don't hit your goal one

or even two weeks in a row

as long as you understand why you should

be always asking yourself what is the

biggest obstacle in my way

of hitting my weekly target how do i

overcome this and be obsessive of this

uh if you don't know the answer then the

answer is go

talk to more users and

don't spin in circles i'm trying to

figure it out yourself

a good startup idea will keep growing at

some point

so not hitting uh your weekly targets

week on end

uh will maybe just help inform you

you're not working on the right thing or

even the right idea finally to end as

you already know our startup school

software asks you to set your primary

metric and goals

uh it is important to be honest about

where you are

and one of the best ways to do that is

to fill this out every week

we've given you the software to do this

very easily it is

not for us i promise you it is for you

to use and get in the habit of doing it

we hope you fill us out throughout the

course and moving forward even after the

course you keep doing it it's a good

habit to have

i guarantee you if you're not already

doing this just adding this one simple

thing to your workflow

is going to help you and change things

dramatically

all right that's it we'll next have ilya

from segment thanks

you