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Michael Seibel

Bluelight - The world’s largest library of startup benchmark data

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Startup benchmark data is fragmented and disorganized, scattered across hundreds of Medium blogs. We are curating the world’s largest library of startup benchmark data, creating market transparency for founders and institutions.

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Alex Lee
Maker
Hi Product Hunt! I'm the co-founder of Bluelight along with Stew and Dixon. We're very excited to show the Product Hunt community what we've been working on in the past month. Our vision with Bluelight is to curate and organize the world’s largest library of startup benchmark data to bring market transparency for founders and investors. Startup benchmark data is largely inaccessible, with some data scattered across hundreds of Medium blogs. We want to democratize access to this data and make everyone smarter about startup metrics. This includes all metrics from net retention to sales efficiency. I'm excited to bring transparency to startup metrics for the Product Hunt community. If you have metrics that you want to benchmark, please email us at founders@usebluelight.com - we'd love to talk to you!
Javier Sanchez Mejorada
Really interesting idea! Where are you getting all this data from?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @javier_sanchez_mejorada1! The current dataset is compiled from public research reports, financial models that Startups have shared with us, and our Stripe integration.
Clifford Son
Great idea! Why do you think it’s so important for even early stage startups to benchmark their financial metrics when they’re still building their product and business?
Richard Wei
@clifford_son I agree, at what stage would this actually be helpful? And how would I use these metrics to find PMF?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @clifford_son! We've talked with a lot of early stage startups and have found that many of them want to set goals as they approach milestones. We want to provide transparency on what a successful startup looks like so early stage startups can aspire towards that. We know with early stage startups building product is priority number one which is why we want to do the heavy lifting for you via source system integration - e.g. Stripe, etc. We want the process to be frictionless so you can get the answers you need and get back to work!
Alex Dixon
Maker
Hi @richard_wei! Any company that is revenue generating can benefit from benchmarking to set goals or assess performance. Our current focus is on Seed to Series B in terms of startups in our dataset. PMF can be a deep topic :). You could use our platform to measure and compare your startup's growth & retention as a proxy for PMF. This alone won't help you _find_ PMF since that requires an understanding of your product and strategy, but it helps close the feedback loop on your startup's performance.
Pauline Colin
I like the idea ! But how will you have access to the data?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @pauline_colin! In our give to get model we give you access to your detailed performance metrics that we calculate for you as well as a view of the larger pool of aggregated & anonymized startup benchmark data.
Sigurd Seteklev
Happy user here 🙋‍♂️Congrats on the launch ?makers
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thank you Sigurd! It's been great working with you and the @kitemaker team!
Mitch Hansen
This looks awesome! As a founder with less financial knowledge will this be easy to understand and use?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @mitchahan! As a technical co-founder myself I get where you are coming from :). Our main design goal is to make a product that (any) founders can use. Bringing transparency to startup metrics means making something that is intuitive to understand and use so we will keep aiming for this.
Justin Svegliato
This is a fantastic idea! What kind of processes does the team have in place to collect/maintain up-to-date startup benchmark data?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @justin_svegliato! We started off by manually combing through all sorts of data sources to build our initial product. We have recently launched a Stripe integration to collect/maintain up-to-date startup benchmark data with more automation on the way. Our data platform currently calculates metrics like MRR, ARPA, Churn %, and LTV down to a cohort and/or customer level from Stripe data alone. We are actively diving into other metrics based on user feedback!
Matthew
This is exciting – I could very much have used some of this just half a year ago. Do you plan to provide industry-specific KPI benchmarks as well? E.g., insurers care about cycle times, real estate cares about revenue per sq ft, etc
Richard Wei
@matthewnlu I also would be interested in getting specific benchmarks in my industry, health tech. But I'm also wondering about how you may identify the appropriate comparable companies for companies that market themselves as the "uber of ___" or the "airbnb of ____"?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @matthewnlu! Curious if you could elaborate on your use case half a year ago? We plan to provide industry-specific KPI benchmarks as well. We are meticulously compiling the feedback from our users to make sure we provide solid industry categorization for our users and their metrics.
Matthew
@alex_dixon1 Actually, this is a great discussion in that no only will different industries have different KPIs, different segments of that industry will have different KPIs. As an example, as an insurtech specifically in the field of claim management, things like cycle time (how long it takes to process a claim end to end) are critical; but if you look at other segments of insurance – think carriers like Root, Clearcover, Kin etc – they are going to be looking at ratios like premiums paid out, etc. That said, last year I was looking to benchmark SG&A line items, so just a general financial KPIs would have been helpful
Sean O'Brien
I really like the idea! With the ability to benchmark, comes the ability to recommend resources or offer expertise in an area where as a founder, my startup might be lacking.. What value can I expect to receive from the Bluelight platform after the initial benchmark is complete?
Alex Dixon
Maker
Thanks @seanobrien556! This is a really cool idea. From an analytics standpoint we think that offering a recommendation service will be achievable with the platform. We currently only look at historicals to produce startup metrics but can see it evolving over time to provide a feature much like you're describing. The Bluelight platform will give you access to your detailed performance metrics that we calculate from your Stripe data. The aggregated benchmarks will be published at a later date once we have enough companies for statistical anonymity.
Kadir Inip
The mouse does not scroll down in the FAQ section. On the UX, users will request it.
Alex Dixon
Maker
@kdrnp good catch. Have added this to our issue tracker- thanks!
Arjun Sukomaran
Incredible founders solving a very real data problem in the early stage world! Excited to see these guys bring an awesome product to this space!
Victor Yang
Cool idea! There’s definitely a need for more data transparency in startup land. There are founders who would be uncomfortable/reluctant in sharing their data given your current give-and-get model of data collection. What’s the best way to have this group contribute to your platform?
Trevor Jones
small ! businesses ! supporting ! small ! business ! Keep up the good work.
Mark Chang
Exciting! Congratulations. I’d love to learn about how benchmarks can be established across diverse sectors of businesses
Charlie Hanna
Great product, an elegant and convenient tool for VC portfolio companies.
Ben Kwan
Smart idea. Interested to see how different types of businesses get analyzed. Any thoughts on democratizing data for companies at other stages?
Richard Wei
Why would I need this? So many companies have different strategic approach and market forces and competition are so different every year. CAC is more expensive now than ever. Is Uber's CAC something I can really compare myself to a decade later?
Marc Miller
What sizes/stages of startups will find this most useful?
Marinus Oosterbeek
We need something like this. As an investor I can’t even recount how much time I wasted trying to look for this kind of data. Two thumbs up guys!
Desmond McGowan
What verticals are you focusing on for starters?