What Every $5M+ CEO Should Be Watching Weekly

Summary: As the CEO of a $5M company, a weekly financial review includes a rolling cash forecast, revenue trends by segment, margin performance, operating spend vs. plan, and early signals like pipeline velocity and capacity utilization. The right dashboard helps you make faster, smarter decisions and stay ahead of problems before they impact growth.

By the time your business hits $5M the margin for error shrinks, and the cost of delayed decisions increases.

You’re likely no longer in the weeds of daily financial operations, but you still need to lead with visibility. You need real-time insights that help you anticipate challenges, allocate resources effectively, and keep the entire organization aligned. That’s where a well-built weekly financial dashboard becomes a CEO’s strategic weapon, a decision support system. But what should you really be looking at each week, and why?

Let’s break down the financial and operational indicators that belong on the dashboard of a U.S.-based company at the $5M+ level, and how to use them to lead with precision.

Dashboards Are For Leadership

Many companies think of dashboards as accounting tools. But the most valuable dashboards at the $5M to $20M level are designed for executive decision-making.

That means:

• Tight focus on strategic metrics, not everything you can measure
• Contextualized data, not just numbers, but trends, benchmarks, and targets
• Signals for action, not just status updates

At this level, dashboards serve as an early warning system, a performance tracker, and a leadership alignment tool all in one.

The Weekly View: Why Frequency Matters

Most CEOs get monthly reports, but in high-growth or high-complexity businesses, waiting 30 days to react is too slow. Weekly dashboards allow you to:

• Spot early signs of deviation from plan
  Reinforce accountability rhythms across departments
• Course-correct while you still have leverage

Think of the weekly dashboard as a way to keep your strategic plan in motion, not just track what has already happened.

What a $5M+ CEO Should Be Watching Weekly

Let’s move beyond the basics and focus on decision-relevant metrics.

1. Forward-Looking Cash Analysis

At this stage, it’s not about your current bank balance, it’s about the trajectory of your cash position. A weekly rolling 13-week cash flow forecast is essential, highlighting net cash movement, upcoming obligations, and burn rate trends.

Why it matters: It reveals whether your growth is self-sustaining or whether you’re scaling into a liquidity trap.

2. Revenue Velocity and Pipeline Conversion

Weekly revenue is only part of the story. More important is whether your pipeline is converting at the pace required to meet forward-looking targets.

Your dashboard should tie revenue to leading indicators such as:

• Sales cycle duration
• Average deal size trend
• Conversion rate by channel or sales rep

Why it matters: This helps you assess the quality of your pipeline and whether the go-to-market strategy is holding up as volume increases.

3. Gross Margin by Segment

Many companies see top-line growth but lose control of gross margin as complexity increases, especially when launching new product lines or adding service layers.

A CEO dashboard should highlight margin erosion by business unit, customer tier, or product line, not just a rolled-up number.

Why it matters: It forces visibility into where your growth is profitable, and where it’s silently draining resources.

4. OPEX Trend vs. Strategic Investment Plan

Instead of tracking expenses in isolation, a more valuable view is your operating expenses as a function of strategic ROI.

This includes:

• Variance to forecast by department
• Spend acceleration tied to initiatives (hiring, systems, marketing pushes)
• Return ratios where available (e.g., CAC to LTV, marketing spend to pipeline velocity)

Why it matters: It allows you to distinguish between waste and intentional investment, and ensures you’re not outpacing your ability to capitalize on spend.

5. Accounts Receivable Risk Exposure

Yes, you already monitor receivables. But the CEO-level view is more about systemic risk and trend analysis than collections management.

Look at:

• Percentage of total A/R that is >45 days outstanding
• A/R concentration by customer
• Changes in DSO over time

Why it matters: Concentration risk or aging shifts can signal issues with pricing, customer experience, or client fit, and affect cash runway and funding plans.

6. Utilization or Capacity Metrics

For service-based businesses, weekly utilization by team or department offers insight into both operational efficiency and profitability. For product-based businesses, inventory turns or production lead time can serve the same purpose.

Why it matters: It reveals whether your current infrastructure is scaling efficiently or straining under growth, and whether it’s time to invest in people, process, or technology.

7. Strategic KPI Alignment

This final piece is about keeping the whole organization aligned.

Each department should report 1–2 KPIs tied directly to company-level goals—customer success metrics, product development velocity, NPS, churn, etc.

Why it matters: This builds a performance culture and makes sure your dashboard reflects the business’s strategic health. 

Visibility Protects Velocity

Dashboards are about executive focus.

As a CEO, your job isn’t to crunch numbers. It’s to lead your business forward with clarity and confidence. A strong weekly dashboard helps you stay on plan, spot misalignment early, and allocate your time and resources where they’ll have the greatest impact.

If your current reports feel reactive, disjointed, or delayed, you don’t need more data, you need better structure.

MOD Ventures builds controller-led reporting systems that give CEOs real-time clarity and strategic control. Let’s design a dashboard that works at your level, and grows with your business.