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Visual dashboards for startups  

If you have an office and several people on your startup, having an "always on" dashboard that shows the state of the business can be a great tool to motivate people to work on the right things (although, don't mistake it for actionable metrics - unless, that is, you put up the results of your ongoing tests on your dashboard.

I think it's vital to have a visible, clearly accessible (and always-on) display machine in your office so that all members of the team can see metrics. We have a Mac Mini running two 24" displays constantly, and I'd like us to go bigger soon. Total cost, about $1,000 (and it functions as our stereo via AirFoil). The reason it's important to share visibly is that you should be seeing the data not just when you're thinking of it, but all the time.

This solid article by Robert Laing of MyGengo oulines a number of approaches, tools, pieces of advice, and other miscellanies of use when putting together a visual dashboard for your startup team.

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