The Indie SaaS KPI You’re Not Tracking

The overlooked KPI for indie SaaS: Time-to-Meaningful Outcome. Learn how TTMO boosts activation, retention, and expansion with examples and SQL.

Let’s be real: most indie SaaS dashboards look the same — MRR, churn, LTV, CAC, activation rate, maybe a funnel that quietly gaslights you at 2 a.m. Useful? Sure. Complete? Not even close. The KPI almost no one tracks — yet everyone feels — is Time-to-Meaningful Outcome (TTMO): how long it takes a new user to achieve the first repeatable, job-completing result in your product with their own data. Not a demo. Not a tour. A meaningful outcome. Shorten TTMO and almost everything downstream gets easier.

What Exactly Is TTMO? Definition: TTMO is the elapsed time from signup → user’s first meaningful outcome — the moment they complete the core job your product exists to do, with real inputs, without hand-holding. Why it matters:

Activation: The faster someone wins, the less drop-off you see after day one.
Retention: Users who reach outcomes quickly tend to repeat them — and stick.
Support load: Clear, fast outcomes reduce tickets (“How do I…?” dies quietly).
Expansion: If the first win is obvious and fast, the second seat is an easy sell.

You might be wondering, “Isn’t this Time-to-First Value (TTFV)?” Close — but TTMO is stricter. Value can be subjective. A meaningful outcome is observable, countable, and repeatable.

Make It Concrete: Examples by Product Type

Email warmup tool: First inbox added → domain authenticated → first campaign sent to a real list.
Invoice SaaS: Company profile → client added → first invoice sent and paid.
Issue tracker: Repo linked → board created → first issue closed with a comment.
Podcast editor: Upload episode → noise reduction → first mastered export downloaded.

Each bolded step is your Outcome Event. Define it, instrument it, and make it the north star for onboarding.

Architecture Flow: Where TTMO Lives

Signup ──▶ Onboarding Wizard ──▶ Real Data Ingest ──▶ First Outcome Event
   │               │                    │                     │
   │               │                    │                     └─▶ (TTMO timer stops)
   │               │                    └────────────────────────▶ Events Stream (analytics)
   │               └────────────────────────────────────────────▶ Feature Flags / Hints
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────▶ CRM + Welcome Email

Key idea: Start the TTMO timer at signup (or first session), stop it at the Outcome Event. Everything in between is your friction.

The TTMO Ladder (Reduce Friction Layer by Layer) 1) Outcome Clarity If your “aha” is fuzzy, users wander. Write a one-line promise in-product: “You’ll send your first invoice in under 10 minutes.” Make it a checklist. Celebrate when it turns green. 2) Real Data, Real Fast Demo data lies. Push users to bring their own:

CSV import/templates
Gmail/Stripe/Shopify connectors
Copy–paste parsers

3) Shortcuts to Win

Opinionated defaults (e.g., “Net 15” invoices).
Pre-baked templates (e.g., “First outreach campaign”).
Inline validation and auto-fixers (DNS checks, tax IDs).

4) Visible Progress Progress bars, contextual hints, and “Next step” buttons. Not for dopamine. For momentum.

Case Study: A Two-Person SaaS and a 22-Hour Win Product: lightweight invoicing for freelancers. Before: Users took ~2.5 days to send their first paid invoice. Activation languished at 31%. Changes:

Added a three-step launcher: add client, pick template, preview → send.
Built a CSV client import and one-click Stripe connect.
Added “Ready to send” indicator that only lights up with real client data. After: Median TTMO dropped to 45 minutes. Impact (60 days): +18% trial-to-paid, −30% support tickets, −22% 60-day churn, +14% ARPU (more invoices sent per account).

No pricing experiments. No magic AI. Just getting users to the outcome faster.

How to Instrument TTMO Event Design (keep it boring and consistent)

user_signed_up
entity_created (client, list, project, repo, etc.)
outcome_achieved (your product’s specific win)

Include: user_id, account_id, source (web/app), plan, and timestamps. Quick JavaScript Example

// pseudo-analytics wrapper
track('user_signed_up', { user_id, plan, source: 'web' });

// ...on meaningful outcome (e.g., first invoice paid)
track('outcome_achieved', {
  user_id,
  account_id,
  outcome: 'invoice_paid',
  invoice_id
});

SQL to Compute TTMO (Postgres)

WITH signed AS (
  SELECT user_id, MIN(timestamp) AS signed_at
  FROM events
  WHERE name = 'user_signed_up'
  GROUP BY 1
),
outcomes AS (
  SELECT user_id, MIN(timestamp) AS outcome_at
  FROM events
  WHERE name = 'outcome_achieved'
  GROUP BY 1
)
SELECT
  s.user_id,
  EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM (o.outcome_at - s.signed_at))/60 AS ttmo_minutes
FROM signed s
JOIN outcomes o USING (user_id)
WHERE o.outcome_at > s.signed_at;

Dashboard Targets

Median TTMO: aim for < 60 minutes for lightweight tools; < 24 hours for heavier workflows.
P90 TTMO: tells you about edge friction; great for prioritization.
TTMO by Source: ads vs. organic vs. integrations; channel quality hides here.
TTMO by Template/Plan: which “first wins” actually win.

TTMO Anti-Patterns (Don’t Do These)

Counting guided tours as outcomes. Walkthroughs are nice; outcomes are nicer.
“Email confirmed” as value. That’s hygiene, not success.
Staging-only wins. If it didn’t happen with real data, it doesn’t count.
Infinite setup checklists. If step 7 never matters again, it’s not part of the path.

Practical Playbook to Cut TTMO This Week H2: Identify the True Outcome

Interview three recent activations: “What did you actually try to do?”
Watch session replays for first 24 hours. Mark the first repeatable job completed.

H2: Redesign Onboarding for One Job

Default path equals the most common first job.
Everything else goes to “Do this later” (and mean it).
Add a “10-minute promise” above the fold.

H2: Add One Killer Shortcut

Imports (CSV, Gmail contacts, Stripe items).
Opinionated start (starter templates, pre-filled fields, sensible defaults).
Copy-able examples (ready-to-run queries, layouts, or campaigns).

H2: Make Loss Visible Add a small, honest timer on the dashboard: “Most teams send their first campaign in 12 minutes. You’re at 18 — need a hand?” It’s a nudge wrapped in social proof.

TTMO’s Second-Order Effects

Better pricing conversations. When the win is obvious and fast, per-seat and add-on pricing land more cleanly.
“saner support.”Tickets shift from “how do I start?” to “how do I do more?” — a good problem.
Higher NDR. Faster first wins → more usage → more expansion. It’s not magic; it’s physics.

Advanced: TTMO-Adjusted CAC Payback Want to get fancy? Blend finance with product: TTMO-Adjusted Payback (days) = CAC / (ARPA × Gross Margin × Activation_Rate × Outcome_Repeat_Rate_per_Day) If you halve TTMO, Outcome_Repeat_Rate_per_Day usually rises, pulling your payback forward without touching price or spend.

A Quick ASCII Checklist You Can Paste into Notion

[ ] Outcome event defined (real data, repeatable)
[ ] Instrumented: signup → outcome with IDs + timestamps
[ ] Median + P90 TTMO live in dashboard
[ ] Onboarding path trimmed to one first job
[ ] Import/connector added to reduce setup time
[ ] Progress + “ready to win” indicator visible
[ ] Review TTMO by channel/template weekly

The Takeaway Indie SaaS isn’t a race to ship features. It’s a race to ship outcomes — and to make that first outcome happen fast. Track TTMO, design your onboarding around it, and watch the compounding benefits show up where you actually care: activation, retention, and calm. If this sparked ideas, drop a comment with your outcome event, follow for more indie SaaS playbooks, or share this with a founder who’s drowning in churn graphs.

Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@2nick2patel2/the-indie-saas-kpi-youre-not-tracking-6430d5d0fb2b