2024-05-16 14:37 For CFOs

Metrics That Matter at the Pre-Launch

As a startup founder, you probably have an idea of the metrics you need to track, but may not be sure where to begin. The metrics that matter at the pre-launch stage are often questions such as:

How many months of runway do I have left?
How much cash are we burning each month?
What happens if I hire an additional engineer?
Can I afford one more marketing campaign at $15K?

Let's Match Questions with Your Dashboard KPIs

How many months of runway do I have left? -> This can be tracked using the "runway" metric in the pre-launch KPIs dashboard.
How much cash are we burning each month? -> This can be tracked using the "cash burn" metric in the pre-launch KPIs dashboard.
What happens if I hire an additional engineer? -> This can be simulated using the "what if" scenarios feature in the pre-launch KPIs dashboard.
Can I afford one more marketing campaign at $15K? -> This can be determined by examining the "cashflow" metric in the pre-launch KPIs dashboard.

But what do founders expect from you?

Investors often ask for specific metrics based on the startup's stage. For the pre-launch stage, they typically request metrics like runway, cash burn, and projections, while at later stages they seek ARR, magic number, NRR, and GRR and more.

Let's Match Their Questions with Your Dashboard KPIs

How steady is the company's revenue growth? -> This can be seen with the "annual recurring revenue (ARR)" metric in the post-launch KPIs dashboard.
How well is the company turning its advertising and sales efforts into new revenue? -> This can be seen with the "magic number" metric in the post-launch KPIs dashboard.
How good is the company at keeping its current customers and increasing its earnings from them over time? -> This can be seen with the "net revenue retention (NRR)" metric in the post-launch KPIs dashboard.
How well is the company keeping its current revenue without considering additional sales or services to existing customers? -> This can be seen with the "gross revenue retention (GRR)" metric in the post-launch KPIs dashboard.

Okay, Karl, we know what we need, but how can we manage it without a full-time CFO?

Startups that rely on Excel spreadsheets, accountants, or part-time external CFOs may struggle to collect this data in real time and present it in an engaging fashion. With additional capabilities such as analyzing your numbers, examining expenses, and generating fully customizable reports, startups can explain their decisions and unique value. This can assist in securing the next round of funding.

The easiest answer - try AI solutions!

Octopus AI offers a solution to these challenges.
We have released a Pre-Launch KPIs Dashboard template. This fully customizable reporting solution simplifies the measurement of:

runway
cash burn
cashflow
“what if” scenarios

— all in real time with complete accuracy. The template takes the guesswork out of identifying and tracking your metrics by giving you a ready-made, customizable dashboard. It simplifies founders’ FP&A with a fast, convenient, and easy-to-understand conversational AI dashboard.

This is a great starting point for users who are not financial gurus and a terrific shortcut for VC requests or financial projections. Since all data can be further drilled down and customized, you don't need to spend hours building your analysis from scratch in Excel.

Using Octopus AI, you can meticulously plan in seconds and show your investors how you intend to spend that $1M seed money over the next 24 months. This tool is designed as a startup's key tool for creating dashboards that showcase crucial metrics in an investor-friendly way.

You only need two steps—a signup and the start of writing an assumption—to get started.