55
Launch
Become Data-First
KPI Framework & Reporting Cadence
20 KPIs, one owner per row, thresholds that ping you before the dashboard lies.
The Three-Layer KPI Hierarchy
20 KPIs total · 1 owner per row
Layer 1 · North Star Metric
The One Number
"Every time a customer does X, they got value from us."
Not revenue (lagging), not signups (vanity). A leading indicator of value delivered.
Value
Engagement
Leads Revenue
Layer 2 · AARRR Operating Metrics · ~10 KPIs
A
Acquisition
Unique visitors/wk
CAC by channel
A
Activation
Activation rate
Time-to-value
R
Retention
W1/W4/W12 cohort
DAU/MAU stickiness
R
Revenue
MRR / gross churn
Free-to-paid conv.
R
Referral
Referral rate
Viral coefficient
Layer 3 · Unit Economics & Finance · ~9 KPIs
LTV : CAC
3 : 1 floor
Top quartile 4-6:1
CAC Payback
<12 mo
2025 median 20 mo
NRR
110%+
World-class 115-120%
Gross Margin
80%
SaaS floor 70%
Rule of 40
40+
11-30% of SaaS hit it
Reporting Cadence
Report
Contains
Audience
Length
Daily
NSM + 5-8 leading indicators, today vs yesterday + w-o-w heat map
Founder + leads
1 screen
Weekly
NSM + AARRR scorecard, cohort view, AI-flagged anomalies, top 5 wins/issues
Whole team
1 page
Monthly
Full 20-KPI scorecard, MRR waterfall, unit economics, runway scenarios
Team + investors
3-5 pages
Quarterly
Strategy review, Rule of 40, cohort analysis, plan vs actual
Team + board
10 pages
Mistakes Founders Make
Tracking 50+ metrics instead of the 8-12 that predict performance
"Team" as owner instead of one named person per KPI row
Confusing NSM with revenue -- revenue lags, NSM leads
No threshold column -- a KPI without a ping is wallpaper
Daily reports on B2B with 60-day cycles -- 90% noise
Heroic LTV from best-quarter churn -- use trailing-12-month
2026 BI Stack · AI-Native
Metabase
PostHog
Stripe
Notion
Sheets