Metrics
The numbers that matter — defined, benchmarked, and put to work.
Most growth teams track too many numbers and act on too few. The signal gets buried under dashboards full of vanity metrics while the ones that actually predict the business go unwatched. This collection covers the growth metrics and SaaS metrics that matter: defined clearly, benchmarked against real companies, and tied to the decisions they should drive.
Inside you'll find definitions, context, and worked examples for KPIs across acquisition, activation, retention, and expansion. Whether you're picking a north star metric, pressure-testing your payback period, or working out what a healthy churn rate looks like for your stage, these posts give you a practitioner's answer instead of a textbook one.
All metrics posts
44 results · sorted by most read
№095AcquisitionHow Midjourney Hit $500M ARR With Zero VC and Zero Marketing
How an 11-person team with zero VC and zero marketing budget built a $500M revenue machine on Discord.
№101Referral$300M in 11 Months: The Rise and Reckoning of Higgsfield AI
How Higgsfield AI hit $300M ARR in 11 months with multi-model aggregation, influencer distribution, and extreme shipping velocity, then faced a reputation crisis.
AcquisitionWebsite Traffic
Turn monthly visitors into customers and revenue
№082ActivationFrom Near-Shutdown to $40 M ARR: How Bolt.new Hacked Its Growth
Steal Bolt.new’s Growth Playbook.
RevenueFreemium
Free forever, pay to unlock more
№102ReferralHow ElevenLabs Hit $330M ARR: The Three-Platform Flywheel That Conquered Enterprise AI
The ElevenLabs GTM Playbook. How a PLG Voice Platform Conquered 41% of Fortune 500 Companies.
№099ActivationHow Gamma Turned a 95% Drop-Off into $100M ARR
How Gamma turned a 95% drop-off rate into $100M ARR and a $2.1B valuation with 50 employees, 5 growth strategies you can steal.
ActivationActivation Rate
Share of new users reaching value
№084AcquisitionHow Cursor AI Hacked Growth and Re-Wrote Growth Playbook for Dev-Tools!
From Hack-Weekend Project to $200M ARR.
RetentionMonthly Active Users (MAU)
Unique people using you each month
RevenueExpansion Revenue
Extra money from existing customers
RevenueAnnual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Predictable subscription revenue per year
AcquisitionConversion Rate
Visitors who take the action you want
RetentionRetention Rate
Share of customers who stick around
ActivationFeature Adoption Rate
Active users who actually use a feature
RetentionDaily Active Users (DAU)
Unique people using you each day
AcquisitionCost Per Lead (CPL)
What you pay for one new lead
Churn Rate
How fast customers leave you
ActivationUser Onboarding Rate
Signups who finish onboarding
AcquisitionCustomer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Cost to win one new customer
RevenueLTV:CAC Ratio
Value back per dollar of acquisition
CAC Payback Period
Months to earn back acquisition cost
RevenueRevenue Per User (RPU)
Average dollars each user brings in
ActivationProduct Qualified Lead (PQL)
Free user already hooked on value
RevenueMonthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Predictable revenue you collect each month
RetentionEngagement Rate
How actively users interact with you
ActivationTime to Value (TTV)
Speed at which users feel payoff
RevenueCustomer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Gross profit one customer brings
ReferralNet Promoter Score (NPS)
Would users recommend you, zero to ten
RetentionCohort Analysis
Tracking signup groups over time
AcquisitionLead Scoring
Ranking prospects by likelihood to buy
№027ActivationUser Behavior Analytics: A Guide to Understanding and Optimizing Customer Journeys
№100RevenueGaaS Is Coming: What Jensen Huang’s GTC Keynote Means for Growth Teams
Learn why seat compression is killing SaaS revenue, how Intercom's $0.99/resolution model hit nine-figure ARR, and 5 moves growth
№114RetentionCustomer Retention Metrics: The 12 That Matter Most
A reference to the customer retention metrics worth tracking: what each measures, what good looks like for SaaS, and which one to make your north star.
№088AcquisitionHacking Growth with GPT-5
turn gpt-5 into an always-on growth engine: measurable, repeatable, fast.
№110RetentionWhat Is Customer Retention (and Why It Decides Growth)
A plain-English definition of customer retention, why it beats acquisition on the math, and how to measure it.
№006AcquisitionA/B testing a product feature - Straight Forward
AcquisitionUTM (Urchin Tracking Module)
URL tags that reveal where traffic came from
№112AcquisitionWhat Is Customer Acquisition (and What It Costs)
A plain-English definition of customer acquisition, the funnel it runs through, what it costs by industry, and how it stacks up against retention.
№020RetentionProduct Growth: Leveraging Product Metrics, Cohorts, and Counter-Metrics for Sustainable Success
№040AcquisitionThe PLG Framework: Your hands-on Guide to Product-Led Growth
This guide will equip you with the tools, tactics, and insights you need to harness the power of your product to drive sustainable growth.
№023ActivationUtilizing Customer Journeys, User Research, and Data Metrics for Product Growth Success
№009AcquisitionUser Behaviour Tracking: How Understanding User Behaviour drives the growth of your Product.
№028Retention