Track burn rate, runway, team productivity, and operational efficiency metrics to ensure sustainable startup growth
Operational metrics help you understand the health and efficiency of your startup’s internal operations. These metrics ensure you’re building a sustainable business that can scale effectively.
Monthly burn rate is how much cash your startup spends each month.
Gross burn rate = Total monthly expenses
Net burn rate = Monthly expenses - Monthly revenue
Example calculation:
Runway is how long your startup can operate before running out of cash.
Runway = Cash in bank ÷ Monthly net burn rate
Example calculation:
Burn multiple = Net cash burned ÷ Net new ARR
Example calculation:
Benchmarks:
Months to profitability: Based on current growth and burn trends
Revenue per dollar raised: How much ARR you generate per dollar of funding
Growth capital efficiency: Revenue growth per dollar of incremental spend
Revenue per employee = Annual revenue ÷ Number of employees
Benchmarks for B2B SaaS:
Time to hire: Average days from job posting to accepted offer
Cost per hire: Total recruiting costs ÷ Number of hires
New hire productivity: Time for new employees to reach full productivity
Employee retention: Percentage of employees who stay after one year
Engineering productivity:
Sales productivity:
Customer success productivity:
System uptime: Percentage of time your product is available
Response time: How quickly your application responds to user requests
Error rates: Percentage of requests that result in errors
Scalability metrics: How performance changes with user load
Cost per user: Infrastructure costs divided by active users
Resource utilization: How efficiently you use computing resources
Scaling elasticity: How quickly you can handle traffic spikes
Deployment frequency: How often you release new features
Lead time: Time from code commit to production deployment
Mean time to recovery: How quickly you resolve production issues
Change failure rate: Percentage of deployments that cause problems
Tickets per customer: Average support requests per customer
First response time: How quickly you respond to new tickets
Resolution time: Average time to fully resolve issues
First contact resolution: Percentage resolved in first interaction
Customer satisfaction (CSAT): Rating of support interactions
Net Promoter Score (NPS): Customer likelihood to recommend
Support channel effectiveness: Performance across email, chat, phone
Self-service adoption: Percentage using help docs vs contacting support
Tickets per agent: Volume each support person handles
Resolution rate: Percentage of tickets fully resolved
Escalation rate: Percentage requiring manager or specialist involvement
Agent satisfaction: Internal satisfaction with tools and processes
Collections period: Average days to collect payment from customers
Payment terms: Standard payment terms offered to customers
Cash conversion cycle: Time from customer acquisition to cash collection
Days sales outstanding (DSO): Average collection period
Deferred revenue: Prepaid subscriptions and their cash flow impact
Seasonal patterns: How cash flow varies throughout the year
13-week cash flow forecast: Detailed short-term cash planning
Monthly financial projections: Revenue, expenses, and cash needs
Scenario planning: Best case, worst case, and most likely scenarios
Vendor performance: Service level agreement compliance
Cost optimization: Regular review of vendor costs and alternatives
Contract terms: Favorable terms and renewal schedules
Partner-sourced revenue: Revenue from partner referrals
Partner satisfaction: Health of key strategic relationships
Integration performance: Technical partnership success metrics
Security incident frequency: Number and severity of security issues
Compliance audit results: SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA compliance status
Data breach prevention: Measures and monitoring effectiveness
Disaster recovery testing: Regular testing of backup and recovery systems
Business continuity planning: Preparedness for operational disruptions
Insurance coverage: Adequate protection for key risks
Cost per customer served: Total operational costs ÷ Customer count
Variable vs fixed costs: Understanding cost structure flexibility
Economies of scale: How unit costs change with growth
Automation rate: Percentage of processes that are automated
Manual work reduction: Decrease in manual tasks over time
Process standardization: Consistency across operations
Error rates: Mistakes in key operational processes
Rework percentage: How often work needs to be redone
Quality assurance effectiveness: Catching issues before customer impact
Create operational dashboards for:
Set up alerts for:
Weekly operations reviews:
Monthly business reviews:
Quarterly strategic reviews:
Use business intelligence tools that can aggregate operational data from multiple systems to provide comprehensive views of startup health and efficiency.
Ignoring leading indicators: Focusing only on results instead of predictive metrics
Manual processes: Not automating repetitive operational tasks
Poor cash flow planning: Not forecasting cash needs accurately
Inadequate monitoring: Missing early warning signs of operational issues
Lack of standardization: Inconsistent processes that don’t scale
High burn rate: Optimize expenses, improve efficiency, or accelerate revenue growth
Poor team productivity: Invest in tools, training, or process improvements
System performance issues: Scale infrastructure or optimize application performance
Low cash runway: Reduce burn, raise funding, or accelerate revenue growth
Inefficient processes: Automate manual work and standardize procedures
Operational metrics provide the foundation for sustainable growth. Strong operations enable you to scale efficiently while maintaining quality and customer satisfaction.
With operational health tracked, you need to effectively share these insights with your team and stakeholders. Learn about communicating metrics to drive alignment and action across your organization.