Startup Metrics: Anecdotes vs. Analytics
By Rich Aberman
Consumer web companies (especially startups) should measure as much as they can; otherwise, they’re just prodding around in the dark.
The counter argument is that measuring everything discourages innovation and limits the usefulness of the data.
I think in one sense or another both arguments are correct. On the one hand: “In God we trust, all others bring data.” And on the other: “paralysis by analysis.”
However, the optimal strategy is not simply a happy medium between accumulating and analyzing too much and too little data, but rather a balance between measuring and interpreting two different kinds of information: anecdotal vs. analytical.
This weighs Anecdotal evidence with Analytical evidence and makes the case for balancing both. What, you thought it would be easy?
