Point A – Know Your Numbers: Why Understanding Point A Is Critical for Business Growth

October 14, 2025 | Bradley Hamner

Before you can map out where your business is going, you need to understand exactly where it stands today. This concept—what I call “Point A”—is the foundation of any strategic growth plan. Without it, you’re flying blind.

I first encountered this language in The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham (seriously, if you haven’t read it, stop everything and get it—it’s the GOAT of business books). The idea is simple but profound: you can’t build a roadmap without knowing your starting point.

The Financial Foundation

Before you can map out where your business is going, you need to understand exactly where it stands today. This concept—what I call “Point A”—is the foundation of any strategic growth plan. Without it, you’re flying blind.

I first encountered this language in The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunningham (seriously, if you haven’t read it, stop everything and get it—it’s the GOAT of business books). The idea is simple but profound: you can’t build a roadmap without knowing your starting point.

Why Point A Matters More Than You Think

It’s easy to give lip service to “knowing where you are.” You might think you can rattle off your current position in five minutes. But here’s the truth: most business owners don’t have the depth of understanding they need to truly scale.

If you’re going to build a real roadmap for growth—one that takes you from where you are to where you want to be—it starts with a comprehensive grasp of Point A.

The Financial Foundation

Let’s start with the obvious: your financials. But we’re not just talking about a quick glance at your bank account.

Revenue Metrics:

• What’s your monthly run rate? Are you doing $20,000, $40,000, $80,000, or $150,000 per month?
• What was last year’s revenue? What about the last three years?
• What do you project for this year?

Understanding your revenue trajectory gives you critical context for where you’ve been and where you’re headed.

The Rule of 40: Here’s a powerful framework we use: take your year-over-year growth rate and add it to your profitability percentage. We want that number to hit 40 or above.

For example:

• 20% profitability + 20% year-over-year growth = 40
• 10% profitability + 30% year-over-year growth = 40

You might need to trade some profitability for faster growth, or vice versa. The key is knowing these numbers historically so you can make informed decisions about where to land on that spectrum.

Marketing and Customer Acquisition

Your financial statements only tell part of the story. Here’s where it gets really interesting:

Marketing Efficiency:

• What percentage of revenue are you spending on marketing?
• What’s your cost per lead?
• What’s your customer acquisition cost (CAC)?
• What’s your lead-to-customer conversion ratio?

Customer Value:

• What’s your average customer value?
• What’s the total current value of all your customers (whether that’s 50, 1,000, or 5,000 customers)?
• For insurance agencies: What does the average customer pay in premium? What does that translate to in annual commissions?

I’ve worked with businesses doing $2.4 million who want to hit $10 million by 2028. Others are at $7 million and want to scale to $10 million. Some are at $300,000 and dreaming of their first million.

The question is always the same: Are you going to get there by hope and a prayer, or by understanding the actual drivers of your business?

Operational Insights

Team Structure and Efficiency: Here’s a metric that often surprises people—revenue per full-time equivalent (FTE):

Take your annual revenue and divide it by your number of full-time employees. An incredible number would be $250,000 per person. In my experience working with clients, the average tends to fall between $115,000 and $125,000.

This single metric can tell you a lot about your operational efficiency and where you might have opportunities for improvement.

Culture: How would you actually describe your culture? This isn’t just touchy-feely stuff—your culture directly impacts retention, productivity, and ultimately, your bottom line.

Sales Pipeline Mechanics

This is where many business owners have significant blind spots:

Pipeline Health:

• How many people are actually in your pipeline right now?
• Does your sales team know how many prospects they’re working?
• Or is that number a complete unknown?

Lead Conversion Cycle: How long does it take for a lead to become a customer? This is critical for planning.

I worked with a construction company where we discovered their average lead conversion cycle was 65 days. Sure, occasionally someone signs a contract within two days of first contact. But that’s not typical. Knowing your actual cycle time allows you to plan backwards from your revenue targets.

Sales Volume: Here’s a question I ask all the time that stumps most business owners: How many sales did you close last year?

Not revenue. Not profit. Actual number of sales.

Was it 20? Was it 200? Was it closer to 100?

If you don’t know this number, you’re not alone. But you should know it.

The Lead-to-Sale Ratio

Recently, one of my coaches, Daniel Priestley (check out Entrepreneurial Revolution and Oversubscribed), asked me: “How many leads does it take until you get a sale?”

I had to admit—I didn’t know off the top of my head.

He told me his business runs at 66:1. For every 66 leads, they make one sale. And because he knows exactly how much each lead costs, he knows his customer acquisition cost down to the dollar.

This level of precision might sound intimidating, but it’s actually liberating. When you know these numbers, you can manipulate them strategically. You’re no longer just a rainmaker working on gut instinct—you’re a CEO operating with data.

From Operator to Owner

For years, I relied purely on work ethic. I was the rainmaker, the day-to-day operator, constantly hustling. I never really understood what it meant to step into the owner’s seat and become a true CEO.

Here’s what changed: I got around other entrepreneurs who asked me tough questions. Questions I couldn’t answer. Questions that made me realize I was flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules) when I needed to be flying IFR (Instrument Flight Rules).

Instead of navigating by what I could see and feel, I needed to fly by the instruments—the knobs, dials, and switches that show you the true state of your aircraft.

The Discomfort of Discovery

I’ll be transparent: this process isn’t always comfortable.

One client told me that going through this exercise caused a fight with his wife (who works in the business with him). Not a relationship fight, but a business disagreement about priorities and what they needed to focus on.

But here’s what he said: “It was so helpful. Over the last several years, we were just going through the motions. I realized I really did need to know these numbers. Having someone force me to go grab this data and figure this out—we learned so much just in the process.”

Where to Start

Feeling overwhelmed? Start simple:

1. Basic Financial Metrics: Year-over-year revenue growth and profitability relative to the Rule of 40
2. Marketing Efficiency: Cost per lead and marketing spend as a percentage of revenue
3. Sales Pipeline: What your pipeline looks like right now and how many deals you closed last year
4. Advanced Metrics: Once you have the basics down, dig into lead conversion cycles, customer acquisition costs, and lead-to-sale ratios

You can use AI or Google to help calculate some of these metrics. The important thing is to start.

The Path Forward

Understanding Point A is just the beginning. In upcoming content, I’ll dive into Point B—defining where you want your business to go—and then how to build an actual roadmap to bridge the gap.

But none of that matters if you don’t start here. You can’t navigate to a destination if you don’t know where you’re starting from.

So my challenge to you: Pick three to five numbers from this list and commit to figuring them out this week. Not perfect calculations—just start gathering the data. You’ll be amazed at what you learn just by looking.

Because here’s the truth: if you really want to grow and scale your business, you need a solid grasp on where it stands today. Not a vague sense. Not a rough estimate. A real, data-driven understanding of your Point A.

That’s what separates businesses that hope to grow from businesses that actually do.

Ready to dive deeper into strategic planning and growth frameworks? Visit blueprint.com/assets to register for my an upcoming live training and learn more strategies for scaling your business.