👋 Howdy, Erik here. Welcome to the 3rd edition of Early Product Pitfalls. Each week I bring founding teams at startups ⏳ two minutes on a not-so-obvious pitfall when building new things.

🕳The pit

You know that retention is the most critical metric for you to get right. You are laser focused on helping users build a habit with your product.

🤖 What you might sound like

We can’t worry about anything that isn’t focused on bringing users back to the product. Have we optimized our emails and push notifications?

We can revisit onboarding later.

👀 You, knowing better …

You understand that retention is an output metric - that is, a metric that moves as the result of moving input metrics of which you have more direct control. You know that your three input metrics to retention are:

1. Activation - users experience your value proposition for the first time and the motion that you want to turn into a habit.

2. Engagement - the breadth, depth and frequency that users engage with your product

3. Resurrection - the reactivation of dormant users

In fact, you prioritize your input metrics in this order. You know that activation is the most important and overlooked lever for retention. You look at activation as an opportunity to shift your entire retention curve up.

🔦 Light for the dark

Something to keep in mind while you fundraise …

“When someone tells me "no," it doesn't mean I can't do it, it simply means I can't do it with them.”
Karen E. Quinones Miller

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