Step 1: Build KPI Dashboards

Track operational and financial KPIs/metrics side by side in a single dashboard. This keeps your team aligned on what actually drives the business — not just what’s easy to measure.

Why This Matters

At Series A, you have more teams, tools, and moving parts. Without a shared dashboard, every department operates in its own silo. When ops and finance metrics are reviewed together, your team stays focused on sustainable growth, not vanity metrics.

Key Activities

Choose 3–5 operational KPIs (e.g., response time, uptime, fulfillment)
Pair each with financial KPIs (e.g., CAC, gross margin, revenue/FTE)
Build a simple dashboard using Excel, Google Sheets, Metabase, Looker, or Airtable
Use trendlines, color coding, and arrows to visualize movement
Review weekly in leadership meetings to track progress and address slippage

Common Mistakes

Tracking what's easy, not what matters
Creating dashboards no one looks at or understands
Updating metrics too infrequently to act on
Ignoring KPIs that span departments (e.g., CAC needs input from marketing, ops, and finance)
Letting KPIs drift without regular ownership review

Signals You're Doing It Right

Leadership knows what metrics to focus on each week
KPIs roll up into a larger North Star or shared scorecard
You can spot trends early (positive or negative)
Metrics help prioritize roadmap or ops adjustments
Conversations shift from opinion to data

Red Flags

Each team tracks metrics in isolation
KPIs are stale, unreviewed, or undefined
Dashboards are too complex or go unused
No clear link between metrics and financial outcomes
Teams hit ops goals but financials still suffer

Who Should Own This

COO, CFO, or Ops Lead, in partnership with cross-functional department heads