How do I benchmark my metrics, and why bother?
Quick answer
Benchmarking means comparing your numbers to similar companies and industry norms, so you know whether a number is good, bad or average. You bother because a metric on its own means nothing without context.
The mistake most founders make
Celebrating or panicking about a number with no reference point. Is 5% monthly good? You can't know until you compare it to what's normal for your kind of business. Numbers only mean something next to a benchmark.
How to do it
Use a few sources together: industry reports (many funds and firms publish benchmark data for SaaS, D2C and so on), peer networks and founder groups (honest numbers shared privately), your accelerator or investor (they see lots of companies and know what “good” looks like at your stage), and public data from listed or well-covered companies in your space. Then pick the few metrics that matter most for you and compare like with like — same business type, same stage. A seed-stage SaaS company shouldn't benchmark against a listed giant.
Why it's worth it
Benchmarking tells you where to focus. If your growth is strong but your churn is well above the norm, you know exactly what to fix. It also sharpens your fundraising — showing an investor you're ahead of benchmark on the metrics that matter is far more powerful than raw numbers alone.
Our honest take
Benchmark for direction, not for a grade. The point isn't to feel good or bad — it's to spot the one or two numbers where you're off the pace, and go fix them.