Written By: Lauren Howard
This year I hit 15 million in sales.
My company’s valuation was 150 million.
I got investments from three major equity funds.
And you clicked “read more” because that’s what a lot of people are impressed by.
No judgment. People like people who make a lot of money.
I like money too. A lot.
But here are the metrics that I actually judge by:
I grew a team from 5 people to 27 people.
I knew all of their names, what their career track was, and how they wanted to grow—at my company or otherwise.
I knew their kids' names and ages, and I was happy to stop everything to look at new pictures of their babies or their puppies or visits with Santa or whatever.
I knew their due dates. I knew when they would be out of the office so we could respect it.
I knew when they were having bad days, and they knew they could rely on me to lighten the load when necessary.
Oh, and my retention rate was over 95 percent.
Oh, oh, and we had a whole lot of commercial success too.
You decide how you measure success. I do it by my people, and my kids stay well fed.
Founder & CEO at elletwo