Learning Start-up KPIs: Weekly Update #1

This month I will be focusing on learning everything I can regarding Key Performance Indicators for startups.

What I hope to accomplish

At the end of this month, I will have:

• Gained an overall knowledge of what KPIs are, as well as how they are defined, measured, and tracked.
• Learned 3 tools for tracking and analyzing metrics
• Created blog and/or video tutorials for each tool I learn
• Sent cold emails to operations professionals for their advice and insight on learning metrics for startups, as well as a blog post documenting my progress and any success.
• Blog documentation of what I’ve learned

What skills I’ll gain

• Project and time management
• Cold emailing
• Teaching through writing and video
• Data analysis

Tools I’ll be using

• Excel, Google Analytics, Tableau, Trello, Google Calendar, Google Drive

Week-by-week outline

Week 1

• Project research and planning
• Begin cold emailing potential mentors
• Blog post outlining plans

Week 2

• Continue additional cold emailing (include follow-up if needed)
• Continue researching KPIs, find recommended printed literature on the subject
• Explore Google Analytics
• Video tutorial of Google analytics
• blog post covering what I learn
• Update blog post

Week 3

• Continue reading on KPIs, focus on learning how to analyze them and act on them
• Explore Tableau
• Video tutorial of Tableau
• A blog post detailing my findings for the week, blog post on the success of my cold email quest
• Update blog post

Week 4

• Explore Excel for analyzing metrics
• Create Excel video tutorials based on what I learn
• Write an in-depth comparison of either a) two or more businesses that track different KPIs, or b) a comparison of how measuring different sets of KPIs on the same mock data-set would give different insights and drive different actions. This will be a test of what I have learned, so the exact topic may change to reflect any discoveries I make along the way.
• A final blog post summarizing my project outcomes