The 3 metrics every pre-revenue founder should track (and one to ignore)

Pre-revenue, most metrics lie.

MRR is zero. CAC is undefined. Churn is meaningless. Founders fill the gap with whatever they can count — followers, signups, mailing list size — and convince themselves it's traction.

It isn't. Here are the three that matter, and the one to throw out.

1. Conversations per week

Not DMs. Not "calls scheduled." Actual, hour-long conversations with people in your target segment. Founders who run 5+ of these per week build the right thing. Founders who run zero build the wrong thing.

2. Pre-orders or paid pilots

Verbal interest is worthless. Money — even €50 — is signal. Pre-revenue, the metric is "people who put their card in" not "people who said yes."

3. Activation rate of your manual MVP

If 10 people get your hand-delivered service this week, how many come back next week and ask for more? That number predicts your future retention better than any dashboard.

The metric to ignore: waitlist size

Waitlists fool founders. A 5,000-person waitlist often converts to 50 paying customers — a 1% rate that destroys whatever excitement the big number created. If you must run a waitlist, gate it behind a refundable deposit. The size will drop. The signal will be real.