"A dashboard isn't about showing investors what they want to see—it's about showing your team what they need to know. The best dashboards drive daily decisions, not just quarterly reviews."
What gets measured gets managed. But for many startups, metrics are an afterthought—scattered across spreadsheets, buried in billing systems, or simply not tracked at all. This makes decision-making harder and investor conversations more difficult.
This guide covers how to build a metrics dashboard that gives you visibility into your business and drives better decisions.
Why You Need a Dashboard
A metrics dashboard isn't just a reporting tool—it's a management tool.
Visibility Into Performance
With a dashboard, you can see at a glance how your business is performing. Are you growing? Declining? Stagnant? Without clear metrics, you're guessing.
Faster Decision Making
When you can see metrics in real-time, you can make decisions faster. Need to know if a pricing change is working? Look at your dashboard. Want to see if a marketing campaign is driving signups? Check your metrics.
Accountability
Metrics create accountability. When everyone can see the same numbers, discussions become more objective. "Our conversion rate is up" is a shared fact, not an opinion.
Investor Communication
Investors want to see that you understand your business. A well-designed dashboard signals that you're tracking the right things. It makes board meetings more productive and due diligence easier.
Early Warning
The best dashboards don't just show current state—they highlight anomalies and trends. When something is off, you want to know before it becomes a crisis.
Key Metrics to Track
Not all metrics are created equal. Focus on metrics that drive decisions.
Revenue Metrics
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). The predictable revenue you earn each month from subscriptions. This is your north star revenue metric.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). MRR multiplied by 12. Easier to talk about for larger numbers.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Total revenue divided by number of customers. Helps you understand revenue concentration and pricing health.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR). Revenue from existing customers over time, including expansion, contraction, and churn. 100%+ means you're growing revenue from existing customers.
Growth Metrics
New MRR. Revenue from new customers acquired in the period.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Total sales and marketing spend divided by number of new customers. This is covered in detail in our CAC guide.
Payback Period. How long it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a customer. Shorter is better.
Conversion Rate. Percentage of visitors or trials that become paying customers.
Retention Metrics
Logo Churn Rate. Percentage of customers lost in a period.
Revenue Churn Rate. Percentage of recurring revenue lost in a period.
Net Dollar Retention (NDR). Percentage of dollar value retained from existing customers, including expansion. 110%+ is excellent.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Total revenue expected from a customer over their lifetime. LTV = ARPU / Churn Rate (for simple cohorts).
Engagement Metrics
Active Users. Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU). Track growth and engagement.
Feature Adoption. Which features are being used and how often. Helps prioritize development.
Time to Value. How long it takes new users to experience value. Shorter is better.
NPS (Net Promoter Score). A measure of customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.
Unit Economics
Gross Margin. Revenue minus cost of goods sold, as a percentage. Software should be 70-85%.
LTV:CAC Ratio. Customer lifetime value divided by acquisition cost. 3:1 is a common target.
Contribution Margin. Revenue minus variable costs associated with that revenue.
Design Your Dashboard
Your dashboard should be tailored to your business but follow certain principles.
Three Views for Different Audiences
Executive view. One screen, high-level metrics. MRR, ARR, churn, runway. For board meetings and quick checks.
Operational view. Detailed metrics for running the business. Conversion rates, traffic sources, campaign performance. For weekly reviews.
Deep-dive view. Drill into specific areas. Cohort analysis, retention curves, feature usage. For investigation and analysis.
Visualization Principles
Show trends, not just snapshots. A line chart is more informative than a single number.
Compare to periods. Show current metrics alongside prior periods. Week over week, month over month, year over year.
Use consistent timeframes. Don't mix weekly and monthly metrics in ways that cause confusion.
Highlight anomalies. Call out metrics that are significantly different from expectations.
Key Components
Top-line metrics. MRR, ARR, customers, active users—the most important numbers.
Growth metrics. New customers, new MRR, conversion rates.
Retention metrics. Churn rate, NDR, cohort curves.
Financial metrics. Burn rate, runway, gross margin.
Operational metrics. Depends on your business—support tickets, uptime, deployment frequency.
Build Your Dashboard
There are many tools for building dashboards. Choose based on your needs and resources.
Self-Built with Spreadsheets
For very early companies, a well-organized spreadsheet can be your dashboard. Track metrics in structured tables and create charts for visualization.
Pros: Free, flexible, quick to set up Cons: Manual, error-prone, hard to scale
Business Intelligence Tools
Tools like Metabase, Looker, Tableau, or Mode connect to your data sources and let you build interactive dashboards.
Pros: Powerful, scalable, self-service Cons: Requires setup and data pipeline
Product Analytics Tools
If you're a product company, analytics tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Heap provide product-specific dashboards out of the box.
Pros: Deep product insights, easy to implement Cons: Focused on product, may not cover business metrics
Custom Dashboards
Build your own with a custom frontend and data pipeline. Most companies don't need this, but it's an option if you have specific requirements.
Pros: Complete flexibility Cons: High effort, maintenance burden
Embedded Solutions
Some billing platforms (Stripe, Chargebee) and CRM tools include built-in dashboards for revenue and customer metrics.
Pros: Easy, integrated with data sources Cons: Limited to what the platform provides
Data Infrastructure
For your dashboard to work, you need reliable data infrastructure.
Data Sources
Your dashboard pulls from multiple sources:
- Billing system (Stripe, Chargebee, etc.)
- Analytics system (Google Analytics, Amplitude, etc.)
- CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)
- Support system (Zendesk, Intercom, etc.)
- Database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)
- Spreadsheets (for data that lives nowhere else)
Data Pipeline
Connect your data sources to your dashboard. This might be:
Direct connection. Some tools connect directly to data sources.
Scheduled export. Regular exports from various systems into a central location.
Continuous sync. Real-time or near-real-time data synchronization.
ETL/ELT pipeline. More sophisticated pipelines for larger data volumes.
Data Quality
Bad data leads to bad decisions. Ensure data quality by:
- Validating data at entry points
- Monitoring for anomalies
- Documenting data definitions
- Regular audits of data accuracy
Implement Metrics Processes
Tools alone aren't enough. You need processes for using them.
Weekly Review
Review your dashboard weekly. Look for changes, anomalies, and trends. This should be a short meeting—30 minutes maximum.
Monthly Deep Dive
Monthly, spend more time analyzing trends and patterns. Look at cohort behavior, campaign performance, and long-term trends.
Quarterly Planning
Quarterly, use your metrics to inform planning. Are you on track for goals? What needs to change? This feeds into your roadmap and budget.
Board and Investor Updates
Prepare regular updates for your board and investors. Use your dashboard to create reports. The best boards focus on a few key metrics and deep dives on specific topics.
Metric Governance
Define who owns each metric, how it's calculated, and when it's updated. Confusion about what numbers mean undermines their value.
Common Dashboard Mistakes
These are the patterns that make dashboards less useful:
Too Many Metrics
Dashboards with 50 metrics are overwhelming. Focus on 10-15 key metrics. Save detailed metrics for operational views.
No Narrative
A dashboard shows numbers but not what they mean. Add context: what changed, why it matters, what you're doing about it.
Outdated Data
If your dashboard isn't updated in real-time or near-real-time, people stop trusting it. Update frequently enough to be useful.
Vanity Metrics
Track metrics that look good but don't drive decisions. Active registrations that don't convert aren't useful. Focus on actionable metrics.
No Accountability
If metrics aren't tied to goals and accountability, they're just numbers. Connect metrics to owners and targets.
Scale Your Dashboard
As your company grows, your dashboard needs to evolve.
Add Segments
Track metrics by customer segment, plan tier, acquisition source, or any dimension that matters for decision-making.
Increase Frequency
Early-stage companies might review metrics weekly. Later-stage companies might need daily or real-time visibility into operations.
Add Sophistication
As you mature, add predictive analytics, cohort analysis, and more sophisticated visualizations.
Automate Reporting
Automate regular reports for stakeholders. Reduce manual work while keeping everyone informed.
Related Reading
- SaaS Metrics Every Founder Must Track - Detailed explanations of key metrics
- Customer Acquisition Cost Complete Guide - Understanding your acquisition economics
- Burn Rate and Runway Guide - Managing your financial runway
Need help building a metrics practice? At Startupbricks, helps startups implement metrics frameworks and dashboards. Contact us to discuss your approach.