

Ask HN: What are some interesting metrics for a B2B startup? - pouzy

We see a lot on HN about metrics: it is mostly a matter of growing fast and getting traction. 
This is all focused on consumer startups though: The traction you are getting, are you on your way to hit a million users, do you see a hockey-stick growth rate, etc.<p>But what about business-to-business startups? I am the CTO of a B2B startup, and for now we are working under the radar, talking to a few businesses and gauging interest to define what our product and service offering needs to look like to be sexy for them.<p>Are there any common metrics in the B2B world that kind of work?
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orky56
Here are my favorites:

Qualified Lead Velocity Rate (via Jason Lemkin) -
[http://saastr.com/2012/12/12/why-lead-velocity-rate-lvr-
is-t...](http://saastr.com/2012/12/12/why-lead-velocity-rate-lvr-is-the-most-
important-metric-in-saas/)

Are you able to sustainably grow qualified leads? Distribution and sales needs
to be predictable (as Aaron Ross says) so that you can do it over and over,
not just one-offs.

Cohort Growth (via Armando Mann) - [http://prezi.com/dyny1qyjsvri/acquisition-
engine-draper-univ...](http://prezi.com/dyny1qyjsvri/acquisition-engine-
draper-university-592013/)

Cohort Growth is being able to demonstrate that every so often you are
increasing your ability to derive value from a set of customers (higher
retention, more upsells, lower costs). Basically the second order of LTV.

So those above are for B2B startups that are already growing. The basic
metrics for B2B startups (e.g/i.e. SaaS) is LTV (lifetime value of customer),
CAC (customer acquisition cost), retention/churn, revenue, virality
coefficient (referral effectiveness), etc.

All this being said, I wouldn't automatically discount all consumer startup
metrics. A lot of metrics I learned from the casual gaming industry are just
as relevant in b2b, just in a different flavor and numbers.

~~~
pouzy
Thanks a lot ! As for discarding the consumer startup metrics, of course not,
but having worked in a high-growth consumer startup before with millions of
users, I am a bit lost when I see number 3 or 4 orders of magnitude below what
I am used to. Thanks !

