Depends on how you define success. Is a business which brings in $1,000,000 in revenue but costs $1,100,000 to operate, successful? Profit is a more meaningful

Depends on how you define success. Is a business which brings in $1,000,000 in revenue but costs $1,100,000 to operate, successful? Profit is a more meaningful number. And even then, profit can be slim or negative depending on the stage of the lifecycle that business is in, yet the business can be in negative profit for good reasons and can lead to future profitability. So even then, profit alone is also not a complete indicator of business health. It really does take a holistic look at the books and the market to determine how successful a business/idea really is. Revenue though is "the big number" so it leads to the more sensational claims.