Intermediate metrics
Activation Rate
The % of new users who reach your product's core value moment within a defined window. The most predictive early-stage metric for long-term retention.
#retention
12 results
Glossary
Beginner metrics
Churn Rate
Churn rate is the percentage of customers or revenue a business loses over a given period. The most important retention metric for any subscription business.
Intermediate metrics
Cohort Analysis
A method of grouping users by a shared trait—typically signup date—and tracking their behavior over time to reveal retention trends.
Intermediate metrics
LTV - Lifetime Value
LTV is the total revenue a business expects from a customer over their lifetime. The key metric for justifying acquisition spend and evaluating unit economics.
Beginner product
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS measures customer loyalty on a 0–10 scale, producing a score from -100 to +100. A leading indicator of retention and referral growth for startups.
Intermediate metrics
NRR - Net Revenue Retention
NRR measures how much recurring revenue is retained and grown from existing customers. Above 100% means the company grows revenue without any new customers.
Beginner strategy
Product-Market Fit
Product-market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand - when a startup finds an audience that genuinely needs what it has built.
Guides
Intermediate growth
10 min How to Reduce Churn
A 6-step guide to reducing SaaS churn: identify why users leave, fix onboarding, run proactive customer success, and win back churned users.
Intermediate product
14 min How to Design SaaS User Onboarding
A practical guide to designing SaaS onboarding that activates users fast, reduces churn, and maximizes the ROI of every signup you earn.
Concepts
Intermediate growth
Growth Loops
Growth loops are self-reinforcing systems where each cycle's output becomes the next cycle's input, generating compounding rather than linear growth.
Articles
Intermediate growth
8 min Retention vs. Acquisition
Retaining customers costs 5-7x less than acquiring new ones. Learn when to prioritize each, how to measure both, and the leaky bucket trap to avoid.
Beginner strategy
10 min Why Product-Market Fit Matters
Before scaling, only one thing matters: product-market fit. Here's why it's the central challenge of early-stage startups and what it actually takes to find it.