6 Founders Share the Goal-Setting Traps That Sabotaged Their Success (and What They Focus on Now) Some benchmarks are more important than others—so what should you really care about? We asked six founders for their hardest-won lessons.
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Sometimes, we get our hearts set on a goal. We think that if we achieve it, big things will happen. But as many founders know, some milestones you thought would be huge end up being a womp womp situation. And some benchmarks you never imagined would be so important are gamechanging. It's all about having the clarity to recognize what really matters, and being able to adapt when success looks different than you thought it would. Here, we asked six founders to share the metrics or milestones they thought would matter, and the ones that actually did.
1. Followers ≠ buyers
"I initially thought we should hit a certain number of social media followers. That did bring visibility, but we learned that high follower numbers without corresponding engagement didn't translate to actual business success. On the other hand, one genuinely helpful benchmark I've set was achieving a consistent customer satisfaction rate. This metric was crucial because it directly reflected the quality of our products and the effectiveness of our customer service." — Keren Yoshua, founder, Artizan Joyeria
2. Pitch counts ≠ funding
"Our platform helps founders connect with advisors and investors. When we first launched, we focused on the investor views that a founder received for their pitch presentations. The more views, we figured, the more likely the founder would be to get intros, interest, and funding. That turned out to be an unreliable metric, which showed us that fundraising is not a numbers game — it's a game of strategic fit. Now we focus on benchmarks like founder-investor connection rate, founder funding rate, or investor engagement rate." — Angeline Vuong, cofounder and chief product officer, Cherub
3. Big brand partnerships ≠ impact
"As a social impact company helping local bookstores, we initially focused on signing major partnerships with big companies — but learned that if partnerships require a lot of resources, it can distract from serving your customers. So we refocused. Now our most important benchmark is that 85% of bookstores in the U.S. are on our platform, and we've generated over $32 million in profits for them — in some cases, enough to keep them in business." — Andy Hunter, founder and CEO, Bookshop.org
4. More employees ≠ profitability
"I initially thought an 'employee headcount' benchmark would be big, but it hasn't turned out to be. We love operating with a lean team and getting creative when it comes to resourcing. Funding growth from our own profits means making measured choices and placing fewer, more strategic bets around growth. So profitability and loss benchmarks have been really important to grow our business responsibly." — Lee Joselowitz, cofounder, The Quality Edit
Related: SMART Goals May Be Holding You Back — Try This Effective Goal-Setting Technique Instead
5. Peer recognition ≠ healthy company
"Wanting my company to be recognized by other agencies was a nonhelpful benchmark. As we've grown, I've realized there are companies, big and small, all doing great work — and we have something unique to offer. Conversely, one helpful benchmark was making sure we had at least one year of payroll for every person we employed. Focusing on the financial health of our employees, rather than generic revenue targets, made me more ambitious." — Lillian Marsh, cofounder and managing principal, TinyWins
6. More products ≠ more happy customers
"We initially thought a prolific product rollout would secure a competitive edge — so in 2022, we rapidly developed and launched a multitude of new products. The growth was less than expected, a sign that we hadn't spent enough time considering customer needs. Repeat purchase rates are among our most crucial metrics though. They assure us that our products are resonating with our customers." — Jeff Chan, cofounder, Vivaia
Related: Six Leaders on Staff Positions They Didn't Think They Needed: 'This Hire Made Me Happier'
