As far as Ted Rheingold, “Top Dog” at Dogster.com, is concerned, one of the most important questions startups should be asking themselves is “What are your objectives, and how do you prove them?” Setting your objectives and key results are critical to making your company successful and can lead to transformative growth. However, you can’t just wing it, these objectives need to be defined in advance, must be collectively agreed upon by all stakeholders, and all resources must be allocated to achieve them.
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Rheingold recommends a disciplined approach to defining objectives and key results. For example, maintaining a clear methodology, not diluting responsibility among stakeholders, and focusing on 3 to 4 performance indicators to reduce “info-porn” are critical to testing and measuring user behavior effectively.

For more information, check out Ted’s Dogster Case Study on the Startonomics blog.

Suggested Reading:
Web Analytics by Avinash Kaushik
Advanced Web Metrics by Brian Clifton

Free/Cheap Tools:
Google Analytics, Trends, Adwords Keyword Tool, and Website Optimizer
Awstats (free server-side webstats)
CrazyEgg (click tracking heat map)
Kissmetrics (social space anayltics)
Medialerts (iPhone apps)
Silverback (experience testing)

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