Measure progress
Pirate metrics (AARRR)
Also called AARRR, Pirate funnel
Follow customers through acquisition, activation, retention, referral and revenue, and pick one metric for each stage to find the leak.
- Time45 to 75 minutes
- People2 to 8 people
- Steps3
What it's for
A product grows when people find it, get value quickly, keep coming back, tell others and pay. Pirate metrics name those five stages, so a team can measure each one and see where most people drop out. The biggest leak is usually the best place to work next.
Define each stage for your own product. Activation for a messaging app (sending a first message) looks nothing like activation for accounting software (sending a first invoice).
they try it
they come back
they tell others
they pay
Back to acquisition: they bring the next people
How to run it
Define each stage15 min
What it means for your product to acquire, activate, retain, get a referral from and earn from a customer.
Pick one metric each15 min
One number per stage, and today's value if you know it.
Find the leak15 min2 votes each
Where do the most people drop out between stages? Vote, then agree what to try.
Tips
- Fix activation and retention before spending more on acquisition. Pouring people into a leaky product is expensive.
- Revenue doesn't have to come last. In many products people pay before they refer anyone.
Where it comes from
Coined by investor Dave McClure, later founder of 500 Startups, in his 2007 talk Startup Metrics for Pirates. The name comes from how the acronym sounds.
Pairs well with
North Star framework
Agree one metric that captures the value customers get from the product, and the few inputs the team can move to grow it.
HEART framework
Choose user experience metrics for happiness, engagement, adoption, retention and task success, working from goals to signals to numbers.
Hook model
Map how a product brings people back: the trigger, the action, the reward, and the investment that makes the next visit likelier.