Paul Graham identifies growth rate as key startup metric

Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, has identified the growth rate as the primary metric for evaluating startup success. He notes that many first-time founders struggle to accurately assess their progress, often failing to distinguish between genuine traction and failure due to a lack of comparable professional benchmarks.

Graham emphasizes that growth must be organic rather than achieved by ‘giving away money.’ He suggests that if a startup demonstrates healthy, sustainable growth, other fundamental aspects of the business are likely sound. He advises founders to focus on the growth slope—calculating the percentage change in key variables like recurring revenue or active users over specific periods—rather than focusing on total capital raised or subjective intuition.