Jack Perkins is the founder at CFO Hub , which provides on-demand CFO, controller, accounting, and HR services. Below he shares the metrics that determine business survival and growth. Most CEOs track dozens of metrics but miss the ones that really predict business success or failure. After working with hundreds of growing companies over the past decade, I’ve seen brilliant leaders make catastrophic decisions because they focused on vanity metrics instead of the financial indicators that matter. You don’t need 50 metrics on your dashboard. All you need are these 10 for business success. These 10 metrics are what make or break a business. They cut through the noise to show you what’s really happening with your company’s health and trajectory. Cash runway measures how long your business can last with its current cash reserves at your current burn rate. Just divide the available cash by monthly expenses, and you’ll know how long your business can operate without new cash injections. This is one of the metrics that you should track weekly, as a cash runway of six months or less is a major sign of concern. MRR shows predictable revenue streams from subscriptions or recurring contracts. Even service businesses should calculate this for retained clients. It’s the most reliable predictor of future performance because it removes the volatility of one-time sales . If your MRR is growing, that means your business is gaining sustainable momentum. If it’s flat or declining, it means there might be problems with your value proposition or market fit. CAC is how much money you spend to acquire each new customer, including all marketing and sales efforts. To calculate it, add up your expenses including sales team salaries and commissions, marketing advertising spend, content creation and marketing tools, events and trade shows, and, lastly, lead-generation software. Then, divide that total by the number of new customers acquired during the same period. If your CAC exceeds your customer lifetime value, then you’re burning money on growth that won’t pay off. This percentage tells you how much money you keep after subtracting the direct costs of delivering your product or service. Strong gross margins are a sign of solid business operations, as they mean that you can sell a product or service without incurring too many costs. Different industries have vastly different gross margins, so you must compare apples to apples when thinking about what’s a good goal for your business. Look up average gross profit margins by industry and see if your business is over- or underperforming. Operating cash flow measures the actual cash you generate from business operations, excluding investments and financing activities. This metric tells you whether your business model actually works. Positive operating cash flow means you’re generating more cash than you’re spending on operations. Burn rate calculates how much cash your business goes through every month beyond what it generates. High-growth companies usually have very high burn rates as they expand and solidify their position in the market. The important part is getting revenue growth to outpace the burn rate. CLV estimates the total revenue you’ll generate from a customer relationship over time. Compare this directly to CAC to see if you’re profitably acquiring new customers . A good rule of thumb is to keep your CLV-to-CAC ratio at around 3:1, but the higher, the better. Working capital measures your business’s short-term financial health by subtracting current liabilities from current assets. Positive working capital means you can pay bills and invest in growth opportunities without scrambling for cash. Negative working capital means you should be cautious with your cash and may have to slow down growth investment opportunities. The ratio compares the total debt to shareholder equity to see your business’s financial leverage and risk levels. While some debt can help you grow faster, being excessively leveraged makes your business vulnerable during market downturns. Most healthy companies keep their ratios below 2:1, though this varies by industry and business model. Calculate month-over-month and year-over-year revenue growth to spot trends. Consistent growth rates matter more than a spectacular one-month spike that you won’t be able to sustain. The biggest mistake CEOs make is tracking metrics without connecting them to specific actions. Set clear thresholds that trigger specific responses when metrics move beyond acceptable ranges. For example, if cash runway drops below nine months, implement immediate cost reduction measures and boost your sales efforts. Start with weekly tracking for cash runway and monthly reviews for the remaining nine metrics. The goal is to become more aware of your business’s finances and how your decisions impact them. The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com. The final deadline for the 2025 Inc. Best in Business Awards is Friday, September 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now .