Vanity metrics like the total number of app downloads or daily active users play an important role in helping you and others understand your business.

They can be used to monitor whether you’re growing or not, or whether that change in a support process or a new software feature is having the desired effect or not.

They can also help you craft a narrative to motivate and align your partners, team, funders, family members and other stakeholders.

Unfortunately, vanity metrics by themselves don’t tell you what’s really important. Cash flow and value.

Businesses need to make money (and non-profits need to be sustainable). You may have a massive user base and growth that is off the charts, but if it isn’t profitable, then your vanity metrics are just there for ego.

The metrics that really matter have a currency symbol next to them.