In business, metrics matter. Of course they do.
CAC, MRR, LTV, NRR, GRR, ARR …all the “RR”s…
These numbers are essential. They help us understand how the business is performing, inform decisions, and provide a common language for investors, teams, and boards. These metrics serve as tangible proof of what’s working and where the business is heading. They are important.
But they only tell part of the story.
Most of these metrics are lagging indicators. They show what has already happened. Revenue went up. Customer acquisition costs went down. Retention improved. These are outcomes.
What they don’t show is what created those outcomes in the first place. That’s where most conversations about growth tend to narrow too quickly.
What actually drives performance often begins long before anything shows up in a dashboard.
It starts when a founder makes a bold decision that aligns with what they believe.
It starts when a company articulates a perspective that resonates deeply with the people it’s built for.
It starts when customers see themselves in a story and decide to engage, long before they click a CTA.
These early signals of what people feel, notice, talk about, and are drawn to are often dismissed because they are not easily quantified or included neatly in dashboards.
I work with founders who care deeply about building meaningful companies. They are not interested in the “growth at all costs” mindset. (I’ve been deceived by that way of thinking before. Don’t do it!) Instead, while they want to seize every opportunity to reach their greatest potential, they want growth that reflects what matters to them, their team, and their customers. They want to build businesses that people believe in.
But in many cases, they have internalized a message that unless something is measurable, it doesn’t count. That message limits what they allow themselves to build. It sidelines their creative instincts, their presence, their voice, and their values. And it can create a business that grows in numbers but not in resonance.
This doesn’t mean performance metrics should be ignored. Quite the opposite. It means we need to expand how we define performance. Founder presence, storytelling, emotional resonance, and brand perception are all performance drivers. They create differentiation. They build trust before a transaction. They attract the right people to the team and the right customers to the product. When these elements are ignored, growth becomes a short-term game.
I have seen what happens when these so-called intangibles are prioritized early and consistently. The metrics eventually reflect it. Growth becomes more sustainable because it’s built on alignment, energy, and belief. Not just optimization.
Creativity belongs in the strategy room. Story belongs in the growth plan. The way a founder shows up, communicates, and leads matters just as much as the metrics on the GTM dashboard. These elements may not be tracked in the same way, but they are not secondary.
Performance is not just what you can measure. It includes the things that cause movement before the metrics show up. If we only value what we can measure, we miss what makes the business worth building.