8 min · September 7, 2026
Vanity Metrics Are Lying to You (and You Like It)
Jason and Maya go to war over the dashboards founders love to stare at — and why most of them are just expensive mood lighting.
Jason: Okay so I want to talk about something that's been eating at me all week. I sat in on a board deck — not one of mine, a company I advise — and their whole first slide was 'we hit two million users.' And everyone clapped.
Co-Host: And you didn't clap.
Jason: I did not clap. Because I asked one question. I said, 'how many of those two million came back in the last thirty days?' And the room went quiet.…
Hear the full episode, with the complete transcript, as a member.
Startup Membership opens this episode and the whole archive. Free for 10 days, then $49 a month.

