North star metric

The single measure that best captures the value customers get from your product.

Example

Rotas published per active team per week.

Important

Choose something that only improves when customers genuinely benefit. Choose revenue and you will optimise for extraction; choose signups and you will optimise for noise.

Related terms

  • Activation — The moment a new user first experiences the product's core value.
  • Retention — The share of customers still active after a given period. The inverse of churn, and usually the more useful way round.
  • OKRs — Objectives (what you want) paired with Key Results (the measurable evidence you got it).

Lessons that explain it

  • Managing yourself first — Before you manage anyone, you have to manage the only resource that is genuinely fixed: your own attention. (12 min)
  • OKRs and KPIs — KPIs are the dials you watch. OKRs are what you are trying to change this quarter. Confusing them turns planning into reporting. (12 min)
  • What to measure, and what to ignore — Different stages need different numbers. Measuring everything is the same as measuring nothing. (12 min)
  • The north star metric — One number that only improves when customers genuinely benefit. Choosing it badly points the whole company at the wrong thing. (10 min)
  • Prioritisation frameworks, and when each applies — RICE, ICE, MoSCoW and Kano. Not a dump of frameworks — a guide to which one to reach for and when none of them help. (12 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary