WhatsApp CEO Dashboard: Pick and Defend Five Company-Level Metrics

Imagine you are the CEO of WhatsApp. Name the five metrics you would watch most closely to judge whether the app is succeeding, and explain why each one earns its place. ```hint Five slots, five jobs With room for only five, give each metric a different job. If two of your metrics would always move together, one of them is wasting a slot. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does success here cover only the free consumer app, or also the business side (the WhatsApp Business app and paid messaging for large companies)? - Personal messages are end-to-end encrypted, so WhatsApp cannot read them. Should I limit myself to signals the service sees without content, such as delivery events and user reports? - Should the five be read the same way everywhere, or differently in markets where WhatsApp is already the default messenger and markets where it is still growing? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - WhatsApp's purpose and business model stated first, with the metrics following from them - Exactly five metrics, each precisely defined and justified - Coverage of distinct aspects of the business rather than five versions of activity - The measurement limits imposed by encryption, and how each metric is captured anyway - Counter-metrics or segment cuts that keep the five honest ### Follow-up Questions - Which of your five would you make the single north star, and why not total messages sent? - Paid business messages double while users' replies to businesses fall. How do you read that, and what do you do? - How would you read the five in a market where nearly every phone owner already uses WhatsApp?