Recognizing Business Indicators

In automotive, everyone stares at the same KPIs. Units. Gross. CSI. Nothing wrong with that, but KPIs only tell you where you landed. They don’t tell you how much you left on the table. Jay Abraham calls them OPIs.  Overlooked Performance Indicators. The tiny leverage points inside a dealership that almost no one pays attention to. And he’s right. Because when we started examining our own operation through that lens, here’s what we saw: Most of the biggest opportunities weren’t new initiatives. They were already happening… just not maximised. Things like: - How many service customers get an equity scan, every single day. - How quickly calls are returned. - How many unsold showroom ups get re-engaged the same day. - How many customers are actually aware they can leave service in a new car with a lower payment. - How many of yesterday’s RO customers got a follow-up. These aren’t budget items. They’re behaviour items. And when you improve several of these by just 10%? It’s not 10% growth. It compounds. Jay calls it multiplicative, and he’s not exaggerating. We saw it firsthand. No new building. No new staff. No miracle inventory. Just a team willing to question everything, tighten every gap, and squeeze every ounce of value out of the opportunities we already had. The result? One of the best months we’ve ever had. Because we got better at the invisible work that drives the visible numbers. That’s the real lesson here: The dealership doesn’t transform because of a single big move. It transforms because the team stops walking past the small ones. If you’re running a dealership, here’s a question worth asking: What are the OPIs in your business and who’s watching them?

The secret to successful ABM? It's not what you think. It starts with thoroughly analyzing your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).  Forget basic demographics.  We need to understand the motivations and behaviors that drive your ideal customer. And how do you find a truly effective ICP? It's about layering.  Firmographics are the foundation, industry, size, and revenue, and they are important. But to really understand your ideal customer, we need to explore their technographic (tech stake within the company) Knowing this reveals a lot about their needs and how sophisticated they are. Psychographics (lifestyle, interests, and values of individuals) hold the real magic because they give us hints about their buying decisions. This helps us understand their values and what motivates and keeps them up at night. I recently worked with a company whose ICP was basically "any business with over 500 employees." Way too broad!  We dug deeper, analyzing their best customers to uncover surprising patterns in their psychographics and technographics.  The result? A well focused ICP and an increase in #ABM performance. Refining your ICP takes time and effort.  But it's worth it because it lets you focus your ABM efforts on accounts likely to convert. It's about working smarter, not harder. #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy #demandgeneration

Most startup founders don’t truly understand their business numbers. And that’s a big problem. We talk about building, scaling, and fundraising — but what if the core numbers aren’t clearly defined? I’m sharing this post for every founder, early-stage investor, and curious learner. If you’re building a product, these 8 metrics can decide your business's future. Let’s talk real fundamentals. 1. Bookings ≠ Revenue Bookings mean the customer has signed and committed to pay. Revenue is counted only when you actually deliver the product or service. Verbal deals or letters of intent are not bookings or revenue. 2. Recurring Revenue is everything One-time fees may help in the short term. But recurring product revenue shows long-term value. That’s why ARR and MRR matter. And they must keep growing. 3. Gross Profit shows real health The top line may look good. But what’s left after the delivery cost tells the truth. Please just keep your costs clear. Know what you’re including in gross profit. 4. TCV vs ACV TCV = full contract value (can be 1, 2 or 3 years). ACV = what the customer pays you every year. If your ACV is growing, your product is becoming more valuable. 5. Lifetime Value (LTV) This is not just revenue. It’s the net profit you expect from a customer over their journey. LTV helps you decide how much to spend on getting a customer. 6. GMV vs Revenue GMV shows the total transaction value on your platform. Revenue is what you actually earn from it. Investors always check what part of GMV you’re keeping. 7. CAC — Paid vs Blended Always track CAC for paid marketing separately. Blended CAC hides the cost reality. If you know your true CAC, you can scale more confidently. 8. Churn tells the real story High churn = leaking bucket. Gross churn tells you what you lost. Net churn tells you what you lost after upgrades. Both matter. Don’t hide behind upsells. You can’t run a business with only a gut feeling. You need sharp data and a sharper understanding of that data. These 8 metrics can help you see what your business is actually doing. Every serious founder must know them. Not just for investors. But to lead the business the right way. Let’s make better businesses. With truth. With clarity. And with numbers that actually make sense. #businessstrategy #startuptips #founderlife #entrepreneurship #financialliteracy #AbhishekVyas

The most progressive companies measure success differently. They understand the difference between leading and lagging indicators and they manage to the leading ones first. When it comes to owned media and audience building, here’s what the data shows: ☑️ Brands that publish consistently for 6+ months see 2.5x higher engagement growth... even before conversions catch up. ☑️ 70% of B2B marketers say the biggest early signal of success isn’t traffic, it’s the quality of who engages (CMI, 2024). ☑️Owned channels that hit early “trust signals,” repeat visitors, organic shares, credible contributors are 4x more likely to convert readers into customers within a year. Those are leading indicators: proof the engine is turning before the revenue needle moves. The lagging indicators: pipeline growth, inbound requests, share of voice ... always follow. That’s why the most progressive companies don’t judge success by views per article or leads per post. They measure momentum: Are the right people showing up, engaging, and shouting from the rooftops? Credibility compounds. And when it does, the numbers always follow.

I used to stare at financial statements for hours and still walk away with no clue what was really happening in the business. After analyzing 100+ companies as a fractional CFO, I've learned there are three critical lenses every CFO uses that completely change how you read the data. Most people look at a P&L and see revenue of $500K, expenses of $400K, and net income of $100K. They think that tells the whole story. But you know what a CFO sees? They ask three questions that unlock everything. Learn the top 3 financial analysis frameworks in my newest video 👇 📹 https://lnkd.in/dDQRJe9B ➡️ WHAT CHANGED: HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS This is where you compare performance across time periods, budgets, and benchmarks. Did that $500K in revenue grow 20% from last month? Or did it drop 15%? Are you comparing against your budget or last year's numbers? Suddenly that $500K means something completely different depending on the context. ➡️ HOW EFFICIENT: VERTICAL ANALYSIS This is all about margins, ratios, and unit economics that show you where the real opportunities are. What percentage of that revenue is going to cost of goods sold? What about marketing spend? Are you operating at 20% gross margins or 80%? Because that changes everything about your business model. And here's where it gets powerful...unit level economics. What happens with every single sale? Which products have the highest margins? Where can you optimize pricing? ➡️ WHY IT MATTERS: NON GAAP METRICS These are the KPIs that reveal what's actually driving your business. EBITDA, monthly recurring revenue, customer acquisition cost, churn rates, average order value. These metrics can be incredibly useful, but they require much more detailed data. Customer level data, product level data, subscription cohorts. === You know what's amazing about this framework? Once you see it in action, you'll never look at a P&L the same way again. You stop seeing just numbers and start seeing the story behind your business. Where the growth is coming from, where efficiency can be improved, and what metrics actually matter for your industry. Watch my latest video to see exactly how you can apply this in your work 👇 https://lnkd.in/dDQRJe9B You'll walk away analyzing any business like a seasoned CFO. What's been your biggest challenge with financial analysis? Let me know in the comments below 👇

If You’re Only Looking in the Rearview Mirror, You’re Already Behind. Most GCC leaders track lagging indicators like cost savings and attrition. But if that’s all you measure, you’re managing the past—not shaping the future. Here’s why this matters: Story from the trenches: I once worked with a GCC that seemed healthy on paper—costs were down, delivery was steady. But suddenly, there was a sharp spike in top talent leaving. By the time leadership woke up to the issue, the damage was done. What went wrong? There simply weren’t enough senior roles in India to give people a real career path. Leadership roles in India made up just a fifth of the company’s total and well below peers. The middle of the pyramid got bloated, and the smartest people left when they saw no way up. Nobody noticed until attrition soared and business outcomes suffered. If they’d tracked the right leading indicators, they could have seen this coming—and fixed it before it was too late. Top 5 Leading Indicators Every GCC Leader Should Track: • Time to Fill Critical Roles: Are you attracting top talent fast enough? • Real-Time Stakeholder Satisfaction: What are HQ and business leaders saying now about your value? • Employee Engagement Pulse: Are your best people fired up, or quietly looking elsewhere? • Innovation Pipeline Health: Are you launching new ideas and pilots, or just treading water? • AI/Automation Adoption: Is your center getting smarter every month? Top 5 Lagging Indicators to Monitor: • Actual Cost Savings / ROI: Are you delivering on your promise? • Regrettable Attrition: Are you losing high-potential talent you wanted to keep? • Business Outcomes Delivered: What have you shipped or improved? • Quality of Delivery: Are you hitting SLAs and minimizing defects? • Promotion into Global Roles: Is your talent being recognized across the company? If you’re only tracking what’s already happened, you’re missing the signals that matter most. Leading indicators let you course-correct before the pain hits your business. GCC leaders who master both build centers that are not just efficient—but indispensable. What’s one leading indicator you track that’s made a real difference? Have you seen early-warning signs that helped you steer clear of trouble? Let’s share stories and build a smarter GCC playbook together. Zinnov Amita Goyal Amaresh N. Mohammed Faraz Khan Hani Mukhey Kavita Chakravarthy Ashwin Pai Komal Shah Rohit Nair Namita Adavi ieswariya k Dipanwita Ghosh Saurabh Mehta

Scroll LinkedIn for 5 minutes and you'll see it: "BOOKED 20 DEMO CALLS THIS WEEK" Thousands of likes. Hundreds of comments. Everyone's inspired. Then you see: "Booked 3 discovery calls this week" 12 likes. Maybe a sympathy comment or two. We've been trained to think: 20 > 3, so clearly the first person is crushing it. But here's what nobody's telling you: The numbers mean absolutely nothing without context. Let me show you what I mean: Person A (20 demo calls): → SaaS product at $99/month → Close ALL 20 (best case) = $1,980 in MRR → High volume, low friction, conversion-optimized funnel Person B (3 discovery calls): → Agency with $4,999/month retainer → Close ALL 3 (best case) = $14,997 in MRR → Low volume, high qualification, premium positioning Person B made 7.6x more revenue with 85% fewer calls. But Person A got 200x more engagement on LinkedIn. When you don't understand the business model behind the metric, you start chasing the wrong goals. You see "20 calls" and think you're failing because you only have 3. You burn yourself out trying to book more calls when you should be booking BETTER calls. You compare your agency to someone's SaaS playbook and wonder why nothing works. The reality? → A SaaS founder with 3 calls is probably in trouble → An agency owner with 20 calls is definitely in trouble (wrong leads, bad positioning, or about to burn out) Same metric. Completely different meaning. So before you feel bad about your "low" numbers or try to copy someone else's "high" numbers: Ask yourself: Do we even have the same business model? The same pricing? The same ideal customer? Because context isn't just king. It's everything. Stop letting vanity metrics fool you into feeling inadequate. Your 3 might be worth more than someone else's 20. What's a metric in your business that people completely misunderstand when they see it?

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 Most startup financials I see have red flags you could spot from a mile away. Some of them are so glaring that, I can't even figure out how they were made... Here are 5 that has my ADHD screaming "fix me" — and why they matter: 🚩 Revenue ≠ GMV ≠ ARR First things first: Revenue is not GMV and it’s not (necessarily) ARR either. Stop lumping these numbers together. Your GMV might look impressive but if your take rate is only 10%, your actual revenue story is very different. Also, ARR only makes sense if your revenue is genuinely recurring (spoiler: one-off "projects" billed annually are not ARR). Misunderstanding this makes your business look bigger — but also way dumber — to investors. Get your definitions straight. It's not just semantics. It's credibility. 🚩 Reporting Burn Like It's EBITDA Early-stage founders often use EBITDA as a proxy for burn. It isn't. (Or it isn't for very long...) Burn tells you how much cash is leaving the bank each month. EBITDA tells you about operational profitability. If your business has COGS, capex, financing costs or deferred revenue, burn and EBITDA start to diverge — fast. If you're reporting burn as EBITDA, you're basically saying, "I haven't figured out how complex my business really is." 🚩 No Balance Sheet Look, I get it. Income statements are sexier and balance sheets are a pain. But if you show up to a board meeting, new round, or strategic review without a balance sheet? Immediate credibility hit. Balance sheets show you understand obligations, working capital, deferred revenues, debt loads — actual company health. Ignoring them is like trying to diagnose an illness by only looking at the patient's LinkedIn profile. 🚩 Confusion Around Gross Margin, Contribution Margin 1, and Contribution Margin 2 Your gross margin isn't the end of the story. Sophisticated businesses — especially ones with complex cost structures — need to break down: Contribution Margin 1: After variable costs directly tied to revenue. Contribution Margin 2: After semi-variable or tiered costs (e.g., sales commissions, platform fees). Most founders stop at Gross Margin... Good ones dig into Contribution Margins — because that's where the operational leverage lives. If you don't know where your margins actually inflect, scaling becomes guesswork. And that's dangerous. 🚩 (Bonus) Forecasts Based on Vibes, Not Fundamentals You know the type: "We'll 5x revenue next year because... <waves hands>!" No pipeline data. No CAC/LTV modelling. No unit economics sanity checks. Vibe-based forecasting is a luxury you can't afford beyond Seed stage. Hope is not a strategy. Bottom line: If you're serious about building something durable, your financials need to be just as strong as your product or team. Get this stuff right — or at least get someone on your side who can. (And if reading this made you think, "oh sh*t, we might have a few of these issues" — don't panic. Drop me a note. We'll fix it.) 😉

Dont become a boiled frog... The "boiled frog" metaphor is your wake-up call. Gradual changes—shifts in customer preferences, new technologies, regulatory updates, competitor moves—can sneak up on your business if you're not paying attention. To avoid getting "cooked" by disruption: ☑ Monitor Trends Continuously. ↳ Use tools like environmental scanning, PESTLE analysis, or scenario planning. ↳ Stay ahead of subtle shifts before they become seismic changes. ☑ Embrace Strategic Agility. ↳ Flexibility is your best defence. ↳ Build a strategy that pivots when trends signal opportunities or threats. ☑ Invest in Data-Driven Insights. ↳ Leverage analytics to spot patterns you might otherwise miss. ↳ Early signals lead to smarter, faster decisions. ☑ Engage in Open Strategy. ↳ Bring in diverse perspectives—employees, customers, partners—to spot emerging trends from all angles. ☑ Perform Regular Strategic Reviews. ↳ Treat strategy as a living process, not a set-it-and-forget-it document. ↳ Align it with current realities to stay relevant. The key? Be proactive. Be vigilant. Businesses that adapt to changing environments don’t just survive—they thrive. Ps. If you like content like this, please follow me 🙏

Vanity Metrics that are misleading vs Sanity Metrics Not everything that looks like traction is real growth. Press doesn’t equal profits. Pilots don’t equal paying customers. Signups don’t equal sales. If your traction disappears the moment you stop running ads, it’s not real growth—it’s just paid reach. Here are a few vanity vs sanity metrics to consider 1. Vanity Metric: Total Website Visits Sanity Metric: Conversion Rate (visitors turning into leads/customers) 2. Vanity Metric: Social Media Followers Sanity Metric: Engagement Rate and Lead Generation from Social Media 3. Vanity Metric: App Downloads Sanity Metric: Daily Active Users (DAU) and Retention Rate 4. Vanity Metric: Media Mentions Sanity Metric: Inbound Leads and Revenue from PR 5. Vanity Metric: Email Subscribers Sanity Metric: Email Open Rate and Click-Through Rate (CTR) 6. Vanity Metric: Corporate Pilot Count Sanity Metric: Pilot-to-Customer Conversion Rate 7. Vanity Metric: Total Funding Raised Sanity Metric: Revenue Growth and Profitability 8. Vanity Metric: Event Booth Visitors Sanity Metric: Qualified Leads and Deals Closed Post-Event 9. Vanity Metric: Free Trial Signups Sanity Metric: Paid Customer Conversion Rate Next time you are feeling chuffed about a metric ask yourself if it is vanity or sanity