There has been a lot of interest in our Australian Startup Index , which has been running for 3 months now. There has also been some discussion about how the raw scores should be calculated.

I’d like to open the topic up to you, as TechNation Australia readers, to get some ideas on what you feel is the best way to rank startups.

We’re currently running on Compete and Alexa stats only but some people have commented that we should focus more on Aussie stats. Do you agree with this? If so, should there be an emphasis placed on local traffic or do you feel that international traffic (including Aussie traffic) is a better measure?

Also, do you want the Index to move beyond pure traffic measures and into other things, such as:

• profitability (or revenues),
• funding,
• staff numbers,
• popularity,
• social media mentions,
• innovation,
• valuation,
• design,
• perceived likelihood of success,
• Something else…

Let’s not worry about the detail of how we would measure these things for now. Let’s just focus on what would be ideal.

The real goal of this exercise is to figure out what you guys want to get out of the Index. For instance:

• Do you want it to be a measure of traffic?
• Do you want it to be a measure of coolness?
• Do you want it to be a measure of business success?
• Do you want it to be a measure of who’s being talked about the most?
• Do you want it to be a measure of who is the most influential?

This is your chance guys, so please don’t hold back.

I can’t promise everything you ask for will be implemented, but can promise that everything will be considered.

Go! go! go!