November 13, 2021

Everything Is A Funnel

Can you really "measure everything"? Yes - and here's why I think it's helpful.

Left to my own devices, I'll fill an entire day with things that don't matter.

The best way that I've found to make sure I'm investing my time in the right activities is to visualize everything as a funnel (inputs + outputs).

Start With The Outputs

It's tough to hit a goal you're not aiming for.

Financial goals are easy, so let's tackle one that's a little "softer" - hiring a new person. How do we measure this? Isn't it a true-or-false question? Are they hired or not?!?

Identify The Key Milestones

Find the most reliable leading indicators you can - and write them down.

Let's say you want 3 people to go to final interviews. Maybe you think it'll take 10 first-round interviews to find each final candidate - so you need 30 first-rounders.

How many people do you need to message in order to land a first-round interview? 50? Looks like we need to build a 1500 person list and start having conversations.

Set An Activity Timeline

Any funnel can be broken down as "throughput over time".

The next step here is to figure out the activities that need to take place in order to hit your throughput goals. We've gotta message 1500 people, so let's do 250/wk - small enough to test and iterate but fast enough where we can get the job done.

Measure The Weekly Conversions & Adjust Accordingly

Seeing the percentages tell us where we can improve.

Did we only get 3 replies to our first batch of messages? Our message was probably lame.
Did we get to our first 15 first-round interviews without a decent candidate? Maybe we're messaging the wrong people.
Was our assumption of 30 first-rounders for each final-rounder too optimistic, and it's actually 50? Looks like we'll need to increase our message velocity.

The Throughput Mindset

By building a funnel for critical outcomes and measuring the activities and results that go into them, it's a lot easier to hold yourself accountable - because the mathematical impact of being distracted is so clear.

Find the milestones. Measure the results. Do the activities. Win the game.

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