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Most founders set goals that look impressive on paper but do nothing for the business.
Followers aren’t customers.
Impressions aren’t pipeline.
And 25 “opportunities” mean absolutely nothing if your conversion rate is poopy.
Yes, poopy. Lindsay’s word.
In this episode, we break down how to stop chasing vanity metrics and start setting goals that actually move revenue forward.
What This Episode Covers
• Why most founders measure the wrong things
People obsess over leading metrics, activity counts, and “growth at all costs,” instead of tracking what actually leads to sustainable revenue.
• Why activity metrics are not business metrics
Emails sent, dials made, impressions, and follower counts mean nothing without qualified outcomes.
• The difference between looking busy and building a healthy pipeline
Meetings don’t matter if they aren’t with your ICP.
Pipeline doesn’t matter if it’s full of the wrong people.
Growth doesn’t matter if churn wipes it out.
• Why “growth at all costs” is dead
The market has shifted.
Investors want sustainability, not chaos disguised as scale.
If you can’t keep revenue, it doesn’t matter how fast you get it.
The Metrics That Actually Matter
Quality over quantity, across everything:
• Conversion rate
• Meetings that move forward
• Meetings with the right ICP
• Channel-quality insights (which channel creates the best deals)
• ICP profile views and content resonance
• Referral partners added
• Revenue you can keep, not just win
Founders get lost in chasing numbers.
The real work is understanding your business well enough to know why something is working.
Why LinkedIn Metrics Fool Founders
A post going viral is not a strategy.
A million impressions doesn’t mean revenue.
You need to look at who is engaging, not how many.
ICP profile views > follower count.
How to Replace Bad Goals with Real Ones
We walk you through smart, sustainable metrics you should actually be targeting:
• ICP-specific growth
• Channels that convert
• Referral partners that open real opportunities
• Pipeline quality
• Conversion consistency
• Repeatable systems
We also call out the trap of setting random top-down goals that came out of thin air.
Don’t plan your year around a number you invented because it “felt right.”
The Takeaway
Pick three goals for the next 30 days.
None can be vanity metrics.
All must tie directly to revenue, retention, or ICP learning.
If it doesn’t move the business, it’s not a goal.
If you want to grow your presence and pipeline with AI while still sounding 100 percent like you, come join us inside The Next Wave → wavemakers.ai
5 episodes
