In boardrooms and leadership meetings across industries, analytics teams are often celebrated for producing reports that show last quarter’s performance, revenue trends, and key KPIs. These metrics matter—executives need to understand what happened.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: If your data team spends 90% of its time counting, who is thinking about what comes next?

Imagine this scenario:

James, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of a rapidly growing SaaS company, found himself at a pivotal moment in his career. His company had been experiencing strong sales growth, but as they scaled, the challenges became more complex. With the revenue targets becoming more ambitious and the competition intensifying, James was feeling the pressure to optimize sales, boost customer retention, and find new revenue streams—all at the same time.

As a founder, you’re often juggling multiple responsibilities—product development, customer acquisition, and day-to-day operations. But one thing that can truly set your business apart in today’s competitive landscape is leveraging data. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, building a data-driven business from the ground up can help you make smarter decisions, optimize your operations, and accelerate growth.

In the fast-paced world of business, understanding the cost of acquiring a new customer is vital for any company’s long-term profitability. That’s where Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) comes in—a crucial metric for any business looking to grow sustainably.

There’s a rhythm in the data just as there is in the drumbeat of history. Not the sterile hum of spreadsheets, but a living, breathing cadence that pulses through every small business plan sketched on napkins and every corporate boardroom PowerPoint begging for clarity. I launched District Analyst not because I wanted to play with numbers, but because I believed that buried in those numbers were stories and truths. Stories of possibility. Stories of power.

In the world of business, especially for those running e-commerce platforms or digital services, conversion rate is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, metrics. But here’s the truth: conversion rate isn’t just a number—it’s the key to unlocking sustainable growth.

If there were only one metric you could track in your business, let it be customer retention.

In a world of dashboards overflowing with data, founders and small business owners are often asked to focus on everything: customer acquisition, lifetime value, churn, CAC, ROI, impressions, engagement rates, and more. But if we stripped it all down to a single, unwavering indicator of business health and product-market fit, retention would rise to the top.

This past weekend, I had the honor of joining a powerhouse panel at the Good Soil Forum 2025 in Dallas, where we unpacked how early-stage entrepreneurs can turn data into direction. Alongside Ty Smith and Adam Berk, we explored how founders can use metrics not just to measure the past, but to shape the future.