What are the best ways to measure a startup's success after raising capital?

1 Revenue and profitability

One of the most obvious and important ways to measure a startup's success after raising capital is to look at its revenue and profitability. Revenue is the amount of money your startup generates from selling its products or services, while profitability is the difference between your revenue and your expenses. Both metrics indicate how well your startup is creating value for your customers and capturing value for your business. You should track your revenue and profitability over time, and compare them to your projections and benchmarks. You should also analyze your revenue sources, growth rate, churn rate, customer lifetime value, and unit economics to understand your business model and market fit.

4 Team performance and culture

A fourth way to measure a startup's success after raising capital is to look at its team performance and culture. Team performance is the process of setting, executing, and evaluating goals and tasks for your startup's employees, while culture is the process of creating and maintaining a shared set of values, beliefs, and behaviors for your startup's organization. Both metrics indicate how well your startup is attracting, developing, and retaining talent, and how it is fostering a positive and productive work environment. You should track your team performance and culture over time, and compare them to your mission and values. You should also analyze your team size, composition, skills, roles, communication, collaboration, feedback, and satisfaction to understand your human capital and organizational health.

5 Social and environmental impact

A fifth way to measure a startup's success after raising capital is to look at its social and environmental impact. Social impact is the process of creating and measuring positive change for your startup's stakeholders, such as customers, employees, partners, communities, and society at large, while environmental impact is the process of creating and measuring negative or positive change for your startup's natural resources, such as energy, water, materials, and emissions. Both metrics indicate how well your startup is aligning its business goals with its ethical and sustainability principles, and how it is contributing to the common good. You should track your social and environmental impact over time, and compare them to your purpose and vision. You should also analyze your impact strategy, objectives, indicators, outcomes, and reporting to understand your corporate social responsibility and value creation.

6 Investor relations and fundraising

A sixth and final way to measure a startup's success after raising capital is to look at its investor relations and fundraising. Investor relations is the process of communicating and managing the expectations and interests of your startup's investors, such as angels, venture capitalists, or crowdfunding platforms, while fundraising is the process of seeking and securing additional capital for your startup's growth and expansion. Both metrics indicate how well your startup is building trust and credibility with your financial backers, and how it is optimizing its capital efficiency and runway. You should track your investor relations and fundraising over time, and compare them to your milestones and plans. You should also analyze your investor profile, pitch deck, term sheet, valuation, and return on investment to understand your funding needs and opportunities.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?