Pick a Metric. Then Pair It.

Hey —

While I Was Writing Today’s Signal // Noise:

From sound to signal—let’s get this baby rolling with what’s on my mind this week…

// The Signal

One of the most important things you can do as a founder, CEO, or exec is get crystal f*cking clear on your core metric.

Some people call it a North Star, others call it a key metric or primary metric. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you know the one number that reflects your success—or your failure.

Here’s the truth: most early-stage leaders don’t have this nailed.

I didn’t either, early on. At one venture I led, we tracked organic traffic as our primary metric because SEO was our main growth lever. It made sense at the time—but it was a weak proxy we’d have to change. Traffic is volatile. It doesn’t always map cleanly to real outcomes or revenue or value.

And sometimes, if you're bootstrapped or burning cash with limited runway, you don't have the luxury of nuance—sales or revenue has to be the metric, at least until you're out of the hair-on-fire zone. I’ve been there too.

But the times I’ve felt sharpest—when the team was focused —were the times when we had something even better: a paired metric.

A paired metric combines two numbers that keep each other in check. One drives growth; the other ensures quality. Together, they paint a more honest picture.

At The Motley Fool, we often tracked “Net Cash Receipts”—Gross Cash (money in) minus Refunds (money out). It showed not just how well we sold, but how well we served the right customers & gave them a product they loved.

At Hampton, we looked at “New Members” and “Retention”. Growth is 10x more challenging if members don’t stick around.

That’s the point: paired metrics protect you from chasing vanity or just new sales. You don’t just drive numbers—you drive healthy numbers.

In the last month, I’ve talked to dozens of founders through my advisory work - fewer than 25% had a single, clear metric (let alone paired).

One founder did nail it though in our chat: “new contracts signed.” She said it instantly. Boom. That’s someone who has clarity. Now we have to just work on the pair.

But most are scattered. Multiple goals. Competing dashboards. Direction is chaos.

When that happens at the top, it cascades down and the team doesn’t know what matters. Strategy turns reactive. And speed without clarity is just a lot of noise.

If you’re early and don’t know your metric yet, that’s okay. But don’t wait until you’re forced to define it. Pick something. Test it. Refine it. And when you’re ready—pair it.

Clarity makes everything easier — for you and the team.

🔖 The Blog Round

If you’re Gen Z, the whole return-to-office (RTO) probably feels like a bad rerun — a system and a time period you never signed up for.

I get it. That’s fair.

But if you did your time in offices — the millennials, the Gen X’ers — you know what we’ve lost. The proving grounds, the friendships, the late nights, the chaotic rhythm of it all.

Walking away from it might sound like freedom. But for a lot of us, it’s just... disorienting.

I wrote about what comes after the office — and the confusing silence that follows.

👀 A few Jawns to Check Out

🔪 Dope product. Highly recommend Momentous Creatine—it uses Creapure®, a super clean, German-made creatine monohydrate. No shady sourcing, NSF Certified for Sport, and a pure, reliable performance.

📚 Book rec. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow f*cked me up in the best way poss and I’ve been suggesting it to friends for a year or two now. It follows two childhood friends who turn their love of video games into a studio and a legacy, navigating ambition, ego, and heartbreak. This is not a “startup” book at all - but a story about creativity, partnership, and the cost of success. 10/10 banger.

🤑 Money rec. I use Monarch Money to track our monthly budget, and Projection Lab to model our financial future. Monarch keeps us grounded— and even helped us catch a several hundred dollar fraud charge last year we would've missed otherwise. And Projection Lab lets me run endless what-ifs, tweaking every input until the cash flow and net worth scenarios actually make sense. No affiliations, just a fan of each.

Was this helpful? Relevant? Totally off-base?

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—> Or pass it to someone who’d get value from it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Until next time playas, thanks for reading.

Jordan