The 5 Metrics That Show If a Startup Is Really Ready to Scale

A lot of startups want to scale.Very few actually know what they should measure to make it possible.

When I look at a company — whether as an advisor, an investor, or even just out of curiosity — I don’t ask for fancy dashboards.

I want to know if the team has clarity.Not to validate a strategy, but to see if there’s enough substance to build on.

Here are the 5 metrics I always look at.

1️⃣ MRR — Monthly Recurring Revenue

In early stage, this is often the only somewhat stable indicator on the revenue side.

I’m not looking for perfect growth curves. I’m looking for a healthy foundation:

• Is MRR tracked?

• Is it understood by the team?

• Can they explain what’s driving it?

Even at a small scale, if MRR is clear and consistently followed, it’s a sign the company has started to structure itself.

2️⃣ Pipeline — and Its Structure

MQL, SQL, OPP… those aren’t just acronyms.They describe the commercial engine.

The questions I ask:

• Who’s feeding the pipeline?

• What’s the split between inbound vs. outbound?

• Do teams know where they’re performing — and where deals get stuck?

A pipeline without a clear read is like driving with a GPS that doesn’t see the road. You’re moving, but you don’t know where.

3️⃣ Churn — Simple and Implacable

You don’t need an MBA to understand churn. If you lose customers, you’re paying twice for the same growth.

But what I care about most is whether churn is:

• Measured

• Understood

• Owned by the team

When I hear, “we don’t really know”, that’s usually where the real work starts.

4️⃣ Sales Metrics — The Operational Engine

Some of the most telling numbers are also the most basic:

• Average deal size

• Average sales cycle length

• Upsell vs. new business split

These metrics reveal:

• How fast the machine is running

• Whether growth relies too much on one segment

• Or whether the company is building a more balanced revenue mix

They’re the pulse of the sales organization.

5️⃣ Product Usage — The Overlooked Truth

This is the big one. The one almost nobody tracks properly.

Cohorts. Activation. Stickiness.

It doesn’t take a complex tool — but if there’s zero visibility into real usage, I start asking hard questions.

How do you sell a product if you don’t know how it actually lives in your customers’ hands?

The Bottom Line

These five metrics quickly tell me if a company knows:

• What it sells

• To whom

• And how much control it really has over the growth engine

And when these indicators are shared across teams — sales, product, finance, marketing — that’s when true alignment happens.That’s when scaling stops being wishful thinking and starts becoming credible.

💡 At Startwise, we help startups and VCs structure growth and scale effectively.👉 Follow our page for insights, field learnings, and a pragmatic take on scaling in tech.