Ask HN: what level is "traction"?
We read in a lot of places about getting "traction" before speaking with investors, but have never really understood at what level this means. Ie
- 100 or 100,000 users? - 1,000 free users or 10 paying ones? - high conversion rate or repeat visits?
I realize every startup is different but would love to hear what figures you were getting when you / investors considered you had "traction".
Comments
They're looking for a repeatable, scalable business model that they can pour cash into. Beyond that, it's all a matter of the investors' risk tolerance. (How little proof do they need before parting with their money?)
The metrics you're looking for are just pieces of the puzzle - you need to tell a story that says "if you put money into our black box, you'll get more out". There are no magic numbers.
As far as I can tell, "traction" is a synonym for "the VCs I play golf with have heard of you" -- social proof and all that. But I'd also love to hear opinions from people with direct experience here.
In addition to the already stated metrics of #users, #payingusers, #visitors, and %conversionrate, I'd hope VCs would look at $revenue, $profit, and %monthlygrowth.