Here’s a reminder that profitability is the new vanity metric for startups

For the last few years, startups loved to boast about growth numbers. Revenue growth. Hiring growth. Growth, growth, growth, growth, growth.

But a funny thing has happened in the last year as it became harder to raise venture capital: Profitability has become the new vanity metric. And startups often use the definition that suits them best: It’s cash-flow positive for some businesses, Ebitda positive for others, or gross-margin positive when it’s convenient.

The latest reminder of this? Social analytics company Hootsuite blasted out a press release to reporters today with the headline, “Hootsuite announces it is cash flow positive.” To quote my own tweet: “2016.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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