{"id":771,"date":"2021-06-15T00:02:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T00:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/future.com\/?p=771"},"modified":"2022-06-02T14:03:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T21:03:40","slug":"north-star-metrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/future.com\/north-star-metrics\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Your North Star Metric"},"content":{"rendered":"

When learning to ride a motorcycle, you\u2019re taught that where your eyes go, your bike goes. Look to your right and you\u2019ll drift right. Look left, go left. There\u2019s a lot of power in where you focus your attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why nailing your North Star Metric(s) \u2014 the top-line metrics that all company priorities are aligned around \u2014 is so crucial. Whatever companies choose as their guiding metric, all energy and brainpower will flow in that direction. This can be hugely effective \u2014 it has worked wonders for companies like Airbnb, Netflix, and Uber, especially early on \u2014 but it can also be dangerous. By maintaining a laser focus on a single metric for too long, teams risk short-term thinking, missing new opportunities, and sacrificing the user experience. I share some data and case studies below to provide lessons for narrowing in on your own North Star Metric, knowing when to broaden your lens, and when to pivot your approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Broadly, there are six categories of North Star Metrics:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Revenue <\/b>(e.g. ARR, GMV): <\/span>
    \nThe amount of money being generated \u2014 the focus of ~50% of companies.<\/i><\/li>\n
  2. Customer growth<\/b> (e.g. paid users, marketshare):
    \nThe number of users who are paying \u2014 the focus of ~35% of companies.<\/i><\/li>\n
  3. Consumption growth<\/b> (e.g. messages sent, nights booked): <\/span>
    \nThe intensity of usage of your product, beyond simply visiting your site \u2014 the focus of ~30% of companies.<\/i><\/li>\n
  4. Engagement growth<\/b> (e.g. MAU, DAU) <\/span>
    \nThe number of users who are simply active in your product \u2014 the focus of ~30% of companies.<\/i><\/li>\n
  5. Growth efficiency<\/b> (e.g. LTV\/CAC, margins) <\/span>
    \nThe efficiency at which you spend vs. make money \u2014 the focus of ~10% of companies.\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n
  6. User experience<\/b> (e.g. NPS) <\/span>
    \nThe measure of how enjoyable and easy to use customers find the product experience, overall \u2014 the focus of ~10% of companies.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So what are the optimal North Star Metric(s) for startups? I surveyed current and past employees at over 40 of today’s most successful growth-stage companies to compile the table below; the findings provide a helpful framework for organizations seeking their own guiding metrics.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>A framework for choosing your North Star Metric<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The #1 question to start with: Which metric, if it were to increase today, would <\/span>most<\/b> accelerate my business\u2019 flywheel? As you\u2019ll see below, refining your ideal North Star Metric (NSM) \u2014 deciding which of the six categories above to focus on \u2014 depends heavily on your business model, how your product grows, and how your product is used.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>Marketplaces and platforms<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric: <\/b>Consumption growth<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Marketplaces and platforms make money from usage \u2014 the more consumption they drive within their platforms, the faster they grow. Marketplaces that take a cut of each transaction, like <\/span>Airbnb<\/b>,<\/span> Uber<\/b>, <\/span>Lyft<\/b>, and <\/span>Cameo<\/b>, focus their NSM on the volume of transactions (nights booked, rides taken, and orders placed, respectively).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Platforms that instead charge a flat fee per usage, like the cloud communications platform <\/span>Twilio<\/b> and the fintech giant <\/span>Plaid<\/b>, spotlight activity: in this case, messages sent and bank accounts linked. At first glance, it may seem that concentrating on GMV would be the better choice in both of these cases, but as I\u2019ll discuss below, a focus on revenue as a NSM can lead companies astray.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>Paid-growth driven businesses<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric<\/b>: Growth efficiency<\/span><\/h3>\n

    When<\/span> your business is driven by performance marketing, there are two common NSMs: margins and LTV\/CAC. Businesses like the meal kit service <\/span>Blue Apron<\/b>, the ecommerce bedding company <\/span>Casper<\/b>, and telehealth startup <\/span>Hims<\/b> all fixate on optimizing margins because they ship a physical product with many layers of costs. The more they make per-unit, the faster they grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Meanwhile, companies that are purely digital and invest most of their budget into performance marketing, like the mediation and sleep app <\/span>Calm<\/b>, tend to zero in on LTV\/CAC because most of their spend goes into digital ads. <\/span>Some companies in this category also consider \u201cpayback period\u201d their NSM in order to optimize how quickly they can reinvest in their growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>Freemium team-based B2B products<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric: <\/b>Engagement and\/or customer growth<\/span><\/h3>\n

    This category of products, which includes companies such as the collaborative online document startup <\/span>Coda<\/b> and <\/span>Slack<\/b>, grows through a bottom-up acquisition model. These businesses aim to hook free users who then invite their colleagues. Eventually, after businesses reach a certain level of usage, they upgrade to a paid plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Depending on the maturity of the business and how bottom-up driven their growth is at this stage, these companies either optimize for engagement (e.g. Coda uses \u201cDAU14,\u201d HubSpot uses \u201cWAU\u201d), paid customers (<\/span>Airtable <\/b>uses \u201cWeekly Paid Seats\u201d and<\/span> Asana <\/b>uses \u201cWeekly Active Paid Users\u201d), or paid teams (<\/span>Slack <\/b>uses \u201cNumber of Paid Teams,\u201d while <\/span>Dropbox <\/b>uses \u201cTeams using Dropbox Business\u201d). The more mature and sales-driven the product is, the more companies focus on customers over engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>UGC subscription-based products<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric<\/b>: Consumption<\/span><\/h3>\n

    For select products that are driven by content creation, like <\/span>Twitch<\/b> and the video messaging platform <\/span>Loom<\/b>, it can be more effective to optimize consumption \u2014 say, five-minute plays, or videos created that are viewed \u2014 rather than engagement. This is because the sharing and consumption of content is at the heart of their growth flywheel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Though consumption and engagement are similar metrics, the former is much more active \u2014 creating a video, for example, rather than merely visiting the site. Consumption is more likely to result in users sharing the content, thus driving the growth flywheel.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>Ad-driven businesses<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric<\/b>: Engagement<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Every company that monetizes through web traffic (by running ads), such as <\/span>Facebook<\/b>, <\/span>Pinterest<\/b>, and <\/span>Snap<\/b>, opts for a North Star Metric based on engagement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The question is whether one focuses on Daily Active Users (DAU), weekly (WAU), or monthly (MAU). <\/span>Facebook<\/b> and <\/span>Snap<\/b> target DAU because, for better or worse, social media is a daily habit for most. Meanwhile, Pinterest looks at WAU, since it doesn\u2019t expect its users to need the product daily. And <\/span>Spotify’s<\/b> podcast business hones in on MAU, most likely because podcast listening is more sporadic for users.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company<\/b>: Consumer subscription products<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric: <\/b>Engagement or customer growth<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Consumer subscription products such as the language learning app <\/span>Duolingo<\/b>, dating app <\/span>Tinder<\/b>, and the exercise tracking app <\/span>Strava<\/b> tend to choose either engagement or customer growth as their North Star Metric. <\/span>Duolingo<\/b> and <\/span>Strava<\/b>, for example, both focus on engagement (e.g. DAU and MAU, respectively) because they have a large free-user base that eventually migrates to paid; thus, the more engaged their free users are, the more they know they\u2019ll add paid customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Alternatively, companies like <\/span>Tinder<\/b>, <\/span>Spotify<\/b>, and <\/span>Webflow<\/b> zero in on customer growth over engagement. Interestingly, Tinder concentrates on the percentage of paid accounts, rather than an absolute number. That\u2019s because with so much natural churn \u2014 as people presumably find their soulmates \u2014 they are much better off if they can get early users to upgrade quickly. <\/span>Patreon<\/b> found that growing successful creators (by tracking the number of new creators making over a certain dollar amount) was the key to its early growth flywheel. <\/span>Spotify<\/b>, which has both a subscription business (music) and an ad-based business (podcasts), focuses on engagement, customer growth, <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Type of company: <\/b>Products that differentiate on experience<\/span>
    \nMost common North Star Metric<\/b>: User experience<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Some products win or lose based purely on their user experience \u2014 how delightful, easy, and useful customers find the product. Thus, these types of companies include a quality-oriented North Star Metric.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    While<\/span> Robinhood<\/b> and <\/span>Superhuman<\/b> rely on net promoter scores (NPS) \u2014 which reveal how likely a user is to recommend a product \u2014 Duolingo looks at a metric it calls \u201clearning competency\u201d using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which is the international standard for measuring language ability. They do this because for their product experience, it <\/span>makes sense<\/span><\/a> to define language proficiency at different levels that match the user\u2019s goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Other notable and unique North Star Metrics<\/h2>\n

    While most companies fit within the six structures outlined above, some are not so neatly boxed in \u2014 their North Star Metrics are based on factors specific to their particular business model. Shopify, for example, focuses on growing customers (i.e. \u201cactive merchants\u201d) rather than on consumption (the number of transactions). This is because rather than solely collecting a take-rate, the company also charges a subscription fee. Thus, they\u2019re looking for long-term supply growth with lucrative recurring subscription revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Patreon<\/strong> strives to drive awareness among potential users; breakout success stories are fuel for their growth. The platform uses a unique North Star Metric I\u2019ll call <\/span>activated<\/span><\/i> supply, which translates to \u201cnumber of creators making over a certain amount.\u201d That\u2019s most likely their key metric because these profitable creators drive their top-of-funnel growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Miro<\/strong>, the visual collaboration software, uses \u201cnumber of collaborative boards\u201d as its North Star Metric, which indicates that the core of its growth strategy is inter-organization virality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Similarly, Amplitude<\/strong>, a B2B subscription product, focuses on \u201cWeekly Learning Users\u201d \u2014 users who consume and share more than three charts per week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The popular consumer subscription business Netflix<\/strong> measures consumption in the form of \u201cmedian view hours per month,\u201d rather than measuring customer growth. The reason? Most likely they\u2019ve found that the intensity of usage directly drives retention to their service.<\/span><\/p>\n

    There\u2019s also an interesting distinction between focusing on paid users vs. <\/span>active<\/span><\/i> paid users as your North Star Metric. The project management software companies Asana<\/strong> and JIRA<\/strong> both spotlight weekly <\/span>active<\/span><\/i> paid users, while companies like Airtable<\/strong> and Slack<\/strong> simply focus on paid users. The difference, I suspect, is rooted in the recognition that inactive paid users will soon churn. Thus, there\u2019s more power in tracking high-value paid users.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Using \u201cjobs to be done\u201d to determine your North Star Metric<\/h2>\n

    An alternative approach to choosing your North Star Metric is to ask yourself: <\/span>What jobs are our users hiring our product to do? <\/span><\/i>The \u201c<\/span>jobs-to-be-done<\/span><\/a>\u201d framework (originally coined by <\/span>Clayton Christensen<\/span><\/a>) focuses on the task or progress your customer is trying to make in a given circumstance, and not just on \u201cknowing your customer\u201d or something similar. It\u2019s a way of identifying the driver behind a given purchase or usage and optimizing for that in a way that your competitors can\u2019t or won\u2019t. In this case, the North Star Metric needs to measure what matters most when fulfilling the job to be done for the customer or user. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Plaid\u2019s job to be done<\/b>: Link my bank account to an app I\u2019m using<\/span>
    \nThus, prioritize \u201cbank accounts linked.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    Miro\u2019s job to be done<\/b>: Collaborate with colleagues remotely<\/span>
    \nThus, target \u201ccollaborative boards\u201d as a North Star Metric.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Twitch\u2019s job to be done:<\/b> Watch gamers play live<\/span>
    \nThus, focus on \u201cfive-minute plays,\u201d the number of users who have watched a stream for five consecutive minutes or more.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Lyft\u2019s job to be done:<\/b> Get a quick ride someplace<\/span>
    \nThus, focus on \u201cnumber of rides.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    So what about revenue as a North Star Metric?<\/h2>\n

    Cash is king, the old mantra goes \u2014 and about half the startups I surveyed prioritize revenue as their North Star Metric. Some of this is about being able to <\/span>dictate your own destiny<\/span><\/a> as a venture-backed company. But is revenue the right North Star Metric?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Companies like <\/span>Amplitude<\/b>, <\/span>Figma<\/b>, <\/span>Notion<\/b>, <\/span>Patreon<\/b>, and <\/span>Superhuman<\/b> actively focus on revenue as a North Star Metric \u2014 be it ARR, GMV, or plain old revenue growth \u2014 while companies like <\/span>Airbnb<\/b>, <\/span>Miro<\/b>, <\/span>Netflix<\/b>, <\/span>Tinder<\/b>, and <\/span>Spotify<\/b> purposely <\/span>avoid<\/span><\/i> concentrating on revenue. The reasons for this include:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It\u2019s spiky, and thus hard to make operational. <\/span><\/i>At Airbnb, for example, revenue was impacted by factors such as currency exchange rates, average lengths of stay, and host pricing decisions. But by honing in on a metric one level removed, such as \u201cnights booked,\u201d teams could better track the impact of their work more directly.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Focusing on revenue goals too early can lead to suboptimal decisions, <\/span><\/i>such as spending too much time optimizing pricing \u2014 or being afraid to lower pricing, for that matter \u2014 which can hurt your long-term business growth.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. \u00a0A goal around revenue can be uninspiring to the team. <\/span><\/i>People often join companies to accomplish a specific mission; rarely is that mission simply growth in generating revenue. Metrics that are one step removed, such as number of paid customers, are more motivating because teams can assume that a paid customer is finding value in the product, so the company (and thus the employee) is delivering value.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Of course, in the end everyone cares about revenue, but there are some good reasons to avoid making revenue growth your singular North Star Metric. Instead of concentrating exclusively on revenue as your north star, what\u2019s another metric that is a leading indicator of revenue, one that is operationally easy to track and optimize?<\/span><\/p>\n

      There\u2019s typically only one North Star Metric<\/h2>\n

      Some have cautioned against a single North Star Metric, <\/span>arguing that<\/span><\/a> you\u2019re likely to over-rotate on one aspect of the business and constrain your growth. But the majority of companies continue to align around a sole metric (particularly if you exclude revenue) because it\u2019s the best way to make a noticeable impact. Having that single focal point often leads to a more cohesive planning and decision-making strategy, company-wide.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Companies that do have multiple North Star Metrics typically only do so when they layer on a metric for quality (e.g. Superhuman, Slack, Duolingo), or when they have multiple products with different goals, like Spotify does with subscription music and paid podcasts, looking at both customers, engagement, <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

      To nail your output metrics, calibrate the input metrics<\/h2>\n

      Rarely can you or your team directly or solely impact a North Star Metric, such as increasing active users or increasing revenue. Instead, these metrics are the <\/span>output<\/span><\/i> of the team\u2019s day-to-day efforts, such as increasing the conversion of a flow, or driving more traffic to the site by running more Google ads. That\u2019s why these are called <\/span>output<\/span><\/i> metrics and <\/span>input<\/span><\/i> metrics. Once you have your North Star Metric (an output), your next step is to break this metric down into its component parts and decide which metrics (the inputs) to invest in.<\/span><\/p>\n

      When I was at Airbnb, for example, our North Star Metric was \u201cnights booked.\u201d This isn\u2019t a metric you can easily build a roadmap around because it\u2019s too broad. Where do you even start coming up with ideas for how to increase the number of trips people book? Instead, we listed out the <\/span>input<\/span><\/i> metrics that feed into this higher-level metric. For example, if you increase the guest conversion rate, add more Airbnb homes, or boost the number of visitors to the site, you\u2019ll increase the number of nights booked. With such granular and actionable input metrics, you can actually come up with concrete ideas and align teams around them as goals (e.g. \u201cAdd 10,000 new homes to the platform in Q1\u201d). At the same time, the entire company still had a higher-level North Star, which each of these team efforts funnel into.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Whenever you have a candidate for your North Star Metric(s), determine what levers move this metric, and then focus your ideation around those <\/span>input<\/span><\/i> metrics. Here\u2019s a (non-exhaustive) set of input metrics for each of the six types of North Star Metrics I outlined above:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

      * * *<\/b><\/p>\n

      The companies I surveyed in this post have all been around for many years. Even so, about a quarter of them told me that their North Star Metrics had recently changed, or were about to change. For example, <\/span>Dropbox<\/b> centered on engagement (MAU) early on, then shifted to a focus on paid customer growth as they transitioned their business model from B2C to B2B. <\/span>Figma<\/b> and <\/span>Uber<\/b> moved away from revenue as their NSM in order to double down on market share. <\/span>Spotify<\/b> set its sights on consumption once it introduced its podcasting business. <\/span>Netflix<\/b> has changed its NSM more times than people can count \u2014 originally it focused on the percentage of DVDs that arrived the next day in the mail, later on the percentage of members who watched at least 15 minutes of streaming in a month, and more recently, on median view hours per month.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The examples listed above are growth-stage companies. In the earliest stages of a company, however, before you\u2019ve found the fabled product-market-fit, your singular aim should be answering one question: \u201cAm I building something people want?\u201d Instead of fixating on revenue or customer growth or MAU, I recommend you start by focusing on \u201ccohort retention\u201d \u2014 are enough people sticking after using your product? If you can\u2019t get people to stick around, nothing else will matter in the end. (You can read more about retention <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

      Finally, no matter what stage you\u2019re at as a startup or company with a new product line, expect your North Star Metric to change as your strategy shifts. It will evolve as you learn more about what keeps your team focused, motivated, and building toward the ultimate vision. Your North Star Metric is your strategy, and your strategy is your North Star Metric. Choose wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When learning to ride a motorcycle, you\u2019re taught that where your eyes go, your bike goes. Look to your right and you\u2019ll drift right. Look left, go left. There\u2019s a lot of power in where you focus your attention.\u00a0 That’s why nailing your North Star Metric(s) \u2014 the top-line metrics that all company priorities are… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[410],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metrics-kpis"],"yoast_head":"\nChoosing Your North Star Metric | Future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How to decide the guiding metrics for every type of business, based on a survey of employees at over 40 of today's most successful growth-stage companies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/future.com\/north-star-metrics\/\" 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