Vanity metrics in Startups

FOCUS can make or break a path to startup success. FOCUS on things that matter. Unlike the ones listed below.

1. Funding isn’t validation.
2. Traction isn’t profits.
3. A Business Plan isn’t a business.
4. Three co-founders aren’t a team.
5. Sales aren’t good if unit economics is bad.
6. PR articles isn’t a signal that you have arrived.
7. A zillion App downloads isn’t a zillion staying customers.
8. Getting an Angel investor isn’t divine intervention.
9. Having a mentor doesn’t mean one is getting good advice.
10. An app delivering commodity isn’t defensible innovation.
11. Scaling isn’t surety for survival, seriously.
12. Valuation isn’t wealth.
13. Success isn’t an absolute.
14. Failure isn’t permanent.
15. Nothing changes, until something changes. Isn’t it?
16. A Higher Alexa rank doesn’t mean anything.
17. Hiring overpaid/expensive employees from big companies.
18. Outsourcing tech at ridiculous prices.
19. A lower bounce rate doesn’t mean sales.
20. Awards don’t mean product-market fit.
21. What technologies you use in your product!
22. Patents
23. How many advisors you have! (…coughs… Blockchain Startups …coughs…)
24. How much ML you’re using in your product.
25. User signups

I’ll keep on updating this post. Any suggestions can be made in comments below.