I'm working at a start-up, and a first demand generation hire; what KPIs should I own and not own?

Own all of the lead generation because no one else can do it besides DG.

Have a stake in opportunity creation (% of your pay with accelerators), pipeline generation, and inbound revenue.

I would not own organic social media and only ask to own SEO if you have a dedicated head or agency for it as that's a slow burner and needs a decent amount of attention. 

This is going to be dependent on your business objectives and goals, the stage of the start-up and your go-to-market motion. Generally speaking, here are a few examples of KPIs you should and should not own.

You should own:

• MQLs or sign-ups
• A quality metric to measure MQLs and sign-ups against
• CPA by source or channel
• Conversion rate by source or channel

You should not own (you should be a partner in this, not an owner):

• Retention
• Revenue

This list contains a few examples and is not comprehensive. You’ll find there are some KPIs you should own and others you should partner on as it’s not completely in your control. When thinking about KPIs, focus on what you can control or influence versus what you can’t.

This is going to be dependent on your business objectives and goals, the stage of the start-up and your go-to-market motion. Generally speaking, here are a few examples of KPIs you should and should not own.

You should own:

• MQLs or sign-ups
• A quality metric to measure MQLs and sign-ups against
• CPA by source or channel
• Conversion rate by source or channel

You should not own (you should be a partner in this, not an owner):

• Retention
• Revenue

This list contains a few examples and is not comprehensive. You’ll find there are some KPIs you should own and others you should partner on as it’s not completely in your control. When thinking about KPIs, focus on what you can control or influence versus what you can’t.

As a first demand generation hire at a startup, some KPIs that you could own are:

1. Lead generation: This KPI measures the number of leads generated through marketing campaigns, events, or other channels. Depending on your market and industry, you may want to consider measuring results from your target account list.
2. Conversion rates: This KPI measures how many leads are converted into paying customers, or at different stages of the funnel.
3. Cost per lead: This KPI measures the cost of acquiring each lead, which helps you optimize your marketing spend and allocate resources more efficiently.
4. Website traffic: This KPI measures the number of visitors to your website and can indicate the effectiveness of your SEO, content marketing, and other inbound marketing efforts.
5. Social media engagement: This KPI measures the level of engagement on your social media platforms, including likes, comments, and shares.

Remember that the specific KPIs you own may vary depending on your company's goals and the resources available to you. 

A first hire means a lot of ground to cover, as well as the need to show some quick wins. Hopefully, the start-up has attained product-market fit.

Your primary responsibility is the funnel – generate leads, opportunities/pipeline, etc.

Most often you’d have to over pivot on digital as a channel focusing on driving leads through website, content, paid, social, email, etc., to achieve scale.

But apart from digital, you should look at leveraging other channels to help you build the funnel.

Congrats! This is an exciting role, and it’s definitely an addictive one because you’ll have the chance to build everything from the ground up.

I’d start by focusing on MQLs as your north star—quality leads that either support sales or, in a self-serve model, drive free trials. The definition isn’t set in stone; it’s a work in progress. You’ll need to find the right balance, possibly through lead scoring, to determine what qualifies as a perfect MQL.

It’s also helpful to consider metrics like Leads or Marketing Engaged Leads to gauge how many inbound leads you’re able to support.

Demand Gen typically owns conversions, so those are key KPIs you can commit to as the business scales. Think of it as tracking the journey from eyeballs (page views, impressions) to leads, then leads to MQLs, and finally MQLs to SQLs/opportunities. Every quarter your efforts should be able to improve these conversion rates.