The signals we evaluate for every startup. Browse them, or add your own
Partners at top funds who started following the company or its founders in the last 30 days.
Existing customers spend at least 20% more each year than they did the year before.
How strongly former colleagues and customers back the founders on reference calls.
Number and track record of known angels in prior rounds.
The company burns less than $2 for every $1 of new annual revenue.
How quickly founders reply to investors during a process, measured from email and CRM timestamps.
The last priced round was 18 or more months ago. Most companies raise again within two years.
Most pilot customers went on to sign paid contracts.
Repeated downtime or a broken signup flow in the last 30 days.
Fewer than 5% of customers cancel each year.
A co-founder changed their role or left in the last 12 months.
A new SEC Form D appeared since the last announced round.
A VP or Head-of joined in the last 90 days.
New stars per week on the main repositories.
Growth in estimated monthly visits over the last quarter, ranked against stage peers.
Customer logos and case studies added to the website in the last 90 days.
Net employee growth over six months, ranked against stage peers.
Changelog entries and releases per month, ranked against stage peers.
The company is hiring account executives or sales leadership.
The previous round was led by a fund in the top tier by follow-on rate.
A founder previously started a company that was acquired or went public.
At least one founder holds a degree from UC Berkeley.
Category rank movement on the App Store and Google Play.
The pricing page added an enterprise tier or removed a self-serve plan.
Covered by TechCrunch, The Information, Bloomberg, WSJ or similar.
The founding team includes a CTO or engineering co-founder.
How consistently the founders post about the company, relative to peers at the same stage.
A launch finished in the daily top five on Product Hunt.
A founder is on the speaker list of a major industry conference.
The first full-time recruiter joined. Teams usually hire one when a round is close or just closed.
A founder spent four or more years at Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft or Stripe.
The company announced SOC 2 Type I or II.
A founder went through Y Combinator, at this company or a previous one.
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