Setting quantitative goals before builds

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Superhuman’s Head of Analytics Chris Byington. They break down where analytics should sit inside a company, why dashboards often fail, and how the best teams connect metrics, OKRs, and forecasting to real decisions. Chris also explains why “ship goals” can mislead teams and what CEOs and CFOs should expect from a truly decision-driving data function.

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SPONSORS:

Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/run

Abacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.ai

Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics

Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com

Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you’re scaling on an ERP that wasn’t built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-byington/

Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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RELATED EPISODES:

Matt Hudson Episode

https://youtu.be/_FWGYkzhymQ

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

3:29 Centralized analytics team

7:29 Start analytics with problems not tools

9:41 Lead with the problem

10:14 Align on growth model

11:46 Pre-commit to decisions

13:14 Sponsors — Tabs | Abacum | Brex

16:35 Dashboards need growth context

19:10 Where analytics should sit

21:18 Pros and cons of analytics in finance

23:18 Operations vs revenue org placement

24:11 Hub-and-spoke analytics model

25:18 What “embedded” actually means

26:14 Sponsors — Metronome | RightRev | Rillet

29:38 When self-service analytics works

32:04 Self-serve pitfalls

33:44 Buy vs build BI

35:44 Analytics owns metrics

38:26 Hero metric example

41:41 Outcomes > shipping

42:14 Set goals before build

43:57 Metrics are outcome proxies

46:40 Easy way to say no

48:29 Start answers with yes

52:17 Proving analytics impact

56:19 Credits

#RunTheNumbersPodcast