Lean Startup, Eric Ries talks about three engines that drive the growth of a startup. Each

We should be data-informed, not data-driven. Mostly,

ask for a $100 pre-order payment. You’ll likely get a resounding “no.”

But if your thresholds are too sensitive, they get “whiny” — and you’ll start to ignore them.

Exploratory metrics are speculative and try to find unknown insights to give you the upper hand, while reporting metrics keep you abreast of normal, managerial, day-to-day operations.

Your goal is to identify a need you can solve in a way people will pay money for at scale.

McClure categorizes the metrics a startup needs to watch into acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, and referral — AARRR.[

In Backupify’s case, the ratio of CLV to CAC is 5–6x, meaning that for every dollar the company invests in finding a customer, it makes back $5 to $6. This is excellent, and it’s partly due to its low churn.

Don’t sell what you can make; make what you can sell. And that means figuring out what people want to buy.