I'm probably going to go a direction that many entrepreneurs slam as I usually get this but a complete understanding of and time spent setting up Google Analytics makes it second to none.
I'm referring not to the basics, the tracking codes, setting up goals, etc. but the more sophisticated use of Events, filters, multi-channel funnels, experiments, social analytics, cost analysis, and segmentation (to name a few) to really measure every aspect of your business, optimize your conversion funnels, leverage and optimize SEM and SEO as one channel, and understand the direct/indirect implications of social media. There is really only one gap in Google Analytics and that's the ability to repeatedly track a specific individual (which, frankly when you're startup is at scale, isn't very valuable as it should be done by a Marketing Automation platform so that you can automatically do something with that individual tracking).
How does it work well for mobile? Track EVERYTHING with one set up of Google Analytics. Use filters, segmentation, and Goals and Events specific to mobile vs. web to give each resource in your organization reporting specific to their needs. That last point is key, you should be setting up Dashboards for EVERYONE in your company from the CEO to the customer service rep. Why? Each person impacts the business in ways that can and should be measured, evaluated, and optimized. The CEO may want to see top line metrics while the customer service rep should be looking at the performance of FAQs, help desk, your blog, and social media as well as their impact on retention, word of mouth (yes, you can measure that with Google Analytics - using segmentation), and conversion rates.
This is sophisticated stuff though as you really have to think strategically about how to use campaign tracking, segmentation, filters, and click stream analysis to measure your business entirely AS WELL AS looking only to your mobile products or web site(s) as specific data sets.
What's sophisticated? For example, GA is the only platform integrated directly with Adwords AND A/B testing so that you can do all of that in one place.
Do I use multiple? Yes. But GA is ALWAYS one of the multiple and you have to set the expectations in your organization that platform A will never report exactly the same as platform B. Don't try to solve for that discrepancy, instead use it to identify gaps, problems, and opportunities and focus only one on platform as the definitive data set (I prefer GA in this regard because it is so comprehensive).
Think that's all of your questions except this one, "What are you most concerned about when viewing/parsing analytics data? Are you tracking by version launch? By marketing campaign? By ad buy?" so, in GA...
- Are you tracking by version launch? yes
- By marketing campaign? yes
- By ad buy? yes
- By responsibility in my company? yes
- By traffic source? yes
- By traffic influence? yes
- By retention rate? yes
- By bounce rate? yes
- By platform? yes
- By A/B version? yes
- By keyword? yes
- By location? yes
- By point of engagement? yes
- By exit? yes
- By viral measures? yes
- By individual? NO but by aggregating like individuals? Yes
What about a Dashboard platform? I like Geckoboard but I've used it moreso for Company KPIs that are publicly displayed so they are always top of mind throughout the organization. Using GAs dashboards directly enables meetings to be much more valuable as each person in the room should have the data in front of them so we can deep dive, investigate, troubleshoot, and optimize in real time.