Measuring Startup Relevance

Become relevant or die. It’s actually that simple. Startups start by raising capital on a narrative around how they’re going to change the world, but eventually they either become relevant or they die.

For Founders, this means that you should constantly be asking the questions that define whether or not your Startup is climbing the relevancy curve.

Question 1: Will anyone notice if you disappear?

A Startup is either relevant or irrelevant through the lens of a counterparty. You don’t get to decide this. The market does.

The simplest way of determining relevancy is to answer the question: “Who, if anyone, would be significantly hurt if my Startup were to go away tomorrow?” Would your customers care? Would they have to replace you? Would they be able to find a good alternative?

Question 2: How viable is your path to profitability?

This question combines two critical financial aspects: Your current burn rate and your timeline to profitability. How much money are you burning each month and how long until you’re profitable?

The more capital you need to reach profitability, the higher bar of relevance you’ll need to prove to secure life sustaining capital. When market conditions tighten, abstract concepts like “someday profitable” aren’t acceptable.

Startups with high burn rates and distant profitability targets exist in a dangerous gap that can be difficult to bridge when funding environments are tight or your business isn’t aligned with the “theme of the year”.

Question 3: How fast is your startup growing?

Scale matters to relevance and high growth companies are scaling quickly. Therefore relevance is a function of time for great startups.

A startup that’s tripling revenue year-over-year builds relevance exponentially faster than one growing at 75% annually. When cash becomes scarce, this growth velocity becomes one of the most important determinants of survival.

Question 4: Are you strategically relevant, financially relevant, or both?

It’s critical to understand that relevance exists on at least two distinct planes:

Are you financially relevant? This is about your path to profitability and building a cash machine. Financial relevance matters most to existing investors and potential financial buyers who primarily care about economics.

Are you strategically relevant? This relates to how your startup fits into the broader competitive landscape and ecosystem. Strategic acquirers may value your company differently than financial investors, often seeing worth in capabilities, talent, or market positioning that pure financial models miss.

When Cash Is Running Out

The answers to these questions are critical when cash is running out. New investors won’t always be slinging around cash, especially when market conditions change. And buyers won’t always be there, especially if your Startup hasn’t climbed the relevancy curve yet.

I’ve watched this climb many times across many different business models and the story is the same. Becoming “relevant” is not just important, it might actually be the most important metric to track.

The relevance curve isn’t just a theoretical framework – it’s a predictive model that helps Founders understand their true position in the market. In the end, the Startups that thrive are the ones that have achieved undeniable relevance to their customers, potential acquirers, and the broader market.

“Become relevant or die” could be made into a motivational poster for the Startup world….it’s that important!