At a startup, performance moves quickly, but many teams still struggle to see what’s really driving performance across marketing and sales, which leads to slower decisions and missed opportunities.
That’s the challenge Christopher Ford is solving at HappyDoc. As Director of Growth, he’s responsible for generating demand, converting opportunities, and giving leadership a clear view of how the business is performing.
HappyDoc builds AI software for veterinary clinics. Based in Denver, the team works closely together, with growth driven across a small marketing function and a four-person sales team. For Christopher, that means keeping a close handle on how the entire funnel is performing, from first touch through to closed revenue.
Geckoboard gives teams a real-time view of business performance by bringing together data from tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot and ad platforms into a single dashboard.
“We operate on a marketing and sales service level agreement. The dashboards I have in Geckoboard really cleanly give us a picture on any given day of whether everyone is upholding that agreement and where the cracks are.”
Giving the sales team clear ownership of performance
When Christopher joined HappyDoc, the sales team didn’t yet have a clear structure for how performance was measured day to day.
Geckoboard changed that by making expectations visible.
“It takes five seconds. You can check the dashboard and know you’re doing the right thing today. You know what the goal is. You see how it’s moving.”
Instead of relying on top-level targets alone, the dashboards focus on leading indicators that drive results. That gives the team a clear sense of what success looks like before the end of the month.
“The dashboards have been super helpful in giving visibility to everyone in the sales team about what they need to do each day.”
That visibility has allowed the team to operate more independently, without constant oversight.
“It allows the team to operate very efficiently in an autonomous way where they’re not needing to be micromanaged.”
It also changes the tone of performance conversations.
“There’s no finger-pointing about where failure is happening. It’s helped us all stay on the same page and work optimistically towards the goals.”
Connecting marketing and sales performance in one view
At HappyDoc, the data that matters lives across multiple tools.
Marketing performance sits in Google Analytics, Google Ads and other channels. Sales performance sits in HubSpot. Each platform shows part of the picture, but none of them show how performance connects end to end.
“You’re jumping around from tool to tool, and they all present data in slightly different ways. You’re kind of having to mentally create a story of what’s happening as you flip through.”
Geckoboard brings those signals together into one shared, real-time dashboard, making it easier to understand how performance is changing across the funnel.
“It’s really about the time over time change and seeing it all next to each other. I’m able to see anything that needs to be solved immediately.”
Instead of building reports, Christopher uses Geckoboard to quickly spot where performance is improving or breaking down, then decide where to go deeper.
“It’s there to surface a problem and help me identify where to look deeper. Then I know where to spend my time.”
Making performance visible across the entire company
Geckoboard dashboards are used beyond the sales and marketing teams.
Each week, Christopher reviews performance with the CEO, using dashboards to highlight where the business is moving and where action is needed. Every Friday, the wider team sees the same data in all-hands. Every Monday, investors get a tailored view of performance.
Everyone’s working from the same underlying numbers.
“Everyone’s seeing the same data. I just organise it a little differently to make it easy to digest, depending on the context.”
That consistency is critical, especially when reporting to investors.
“They take data really seriously. Presenting it in a way that they can look at in five seconds and understand what’s going on is extremely helpful.”
It also shifts the quality of conversations.
“It’s been very impactful in keeping all the stakeholders aligned.”
Turning performance data into faster decisions
For Christopher, the value of Geckoboard isn’t just in showing numbers. It’s in showing how those numbers are changing and how they connect.
That clarity makes it easier to understand whether the business is moving in the right direction.
“Since I joined and implemented Geckoboard, we had the first month where we drove 10% month over month growth of our entire business’s revenue. Geckoboard made it easier to understand that we were on track across all the different leading indicators.”
By making performance visible in real time, the team can stay focused on what matters and avoid getting lost in disconnected reports.
“I need to know what’s the one place I should be focusing this week. Geckoboard has been consistently really helpful with that.”
Why Christopher brings Geckoboard into every new role
HappyDoc isn’t the first time Christopher has introduced Geckoboard into a business. It’s something he brings with him deliberately when he takes on a new role.
“I’ve been using Geckoboard for about five years. I’ve rolled it out in three different companies. One of those was an agency where I implemented Geckoboard for over 40 individual clients.”
The pattern is consistent. When Geckoboard is introduced, performance becomes visible in a way it wasn’t before, and that changes how teams operate.
At HappyDoc, that means giving the sales team clarity on what drives success day to day, reducing the need for micromanagement and keeping everyone aligned on the same goals.
In previous roles, the impact showed up differently but with the same underlying effect.
At the agency, rolling out Geckoboard across client accounts led to stronger client relationships, higher satisfaction, and improved retention. Performance was easier to understand, easier to explain, and easier to act on.
“With most clients, you’re having regular meetings. Being able to show what’s happening, how it’s changing, and what you’re going to do about it, all in one place, makes a huge difference.”
Across leadership and investor conversations, the effect is just as visible.
For Christopher, the value is what happens when the right people can see the right information at the right time.
When that visibility is in place, teams move faster, conversations become more focused, and decisions are grounded in a shared understanding of performance.
That’s why it becomes one of the first things he implements when he joins a new company.
A single source of truth for performance
At HappyDoc, Geckoboard connects marketing, sales, leadership and investors around the same view of performance.
It reduces the need for manual reporting, makes expectations clear, and helps teams focus on the right problems at the right time.
“Geckoboard makes it extremely easy to visualise and achieve your goals.”
Outcomes
- Sales team operates with clear expectations, without the need for constant oversight
- Faster identification of issues across marketing and sales performance
- Shared visibility across leadership, team members and investors
- More focused, data-driven conversations at every level of the business
- Improved client satisfaction and retention in previous agency role
Get a clear, shared view of performance across your team, try Geckoboard for free for 14 days.
