The first most important metric: When it goes up and to the right, it means your company doesn't die. Death can be alluded in many different ways, depending on

The first most important metric: When it goes up and to the right, it means your company doesn't die. Death can be alluded in many different ways, depending on the nature of your business, but it usually means making money, hitting a milestone that allows you to raise money, acquiring users, and so forth. Once your company evolves, and has beaten death for the foreseeable future, a new set of metrics come into play and are now the most important. These may be similar to the death-evading set above, or they may be something new like increasing revenue, retaining users, increasing engagement, optimizing CLV, and so forth. The point? If a metric means your company is not dying, or your company is growing, it matters. If it doesn't fit into those buckets? Probably doesn't matter.