Business Foundationsintermediate
Leading Indicator
Definition
A metric that changes before a result does, giving you an early signal of where things are heading, as opposed to a lagging indicator that confirms what already happened.
Why it matters
Leading indicators let you act in time to influence the outcome. Watching them helps founders steer the business proactively rather than reacting to old news.
Example
A founder treats weekly demo bookings as a leading indicator of next months revenue, so when bookings dip she ramps up outreach before sales fall.
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