A Smart Bear: On Metrics

Even Facebook and Slack did not grow “exponentially,” as frequently described. Here is the correct model that you can use to understand and affect growth. —March 2022 | 5,600 words.

Traditional rubrics fail to reveal the best answers, or how to explain those answers to others. After explaining why, the following system solves both failures. —June 2022 | 4,700 words.

Companies that achieve Product/Market Fit – both self-funded and VC-funded – exhibit the same prototypical metrics curves and subjective experiences. —November 2023 | 2,400 words.

Dozens of founders have used this technique to transform the cash-flow of their businesses. Now it’s your turn. —July 2024 | 2,500 words.

Binstack is a technique for selecting the “single most impactful” solution when there are multiple, incomparable dimensions to evaluate. —July 2022 | 3,400 words.

A novel system for selecting and presenting product KPIs, satisfying not only the product team, but also stakeholders, executives, and customers. —July 2023 | 2,600 words.

Is it LTV? Retention? NRR? Magic Number? Rule of 40? Or: Do you need to un-ask the question. —November 2024 | 1,000 words.

How can a business that is “spending to grow” determine whether it’s truly profitable underneath all that “revenue acceleration?” Here’s a way. —April 2025 | 1,800 words.

Some of the most enticing, important metrics are impossible to measure, even after the fact. Here’s how to identify and avoid this trap. —October 2023 | 1,800 words.

A lesson all pilots know: How you must use multiple dials, employing different sources of energy, to report identical data, because some of it is always lying. —February 2022 | 800 words.

The LTV metric overcomplicates and misleads. Learn why you should use other SaaS metrics instead. —October 2013 | 1,100 words.

Introducing COC: The true cost of cancellations in a scaling SaaS business. —August 2013 | 1,700 words.