AARRR Pirate Metrics
The five-stage funnel that turns strangers into evangelists. Track every leak, plug every hole, and scale what works.
Acquisition
Where users come from. Organic search, paid ads, referrals, social. Measure cost per acquisition and channel yield. Double down on the top 20% of sources.
Activation
The first 'aha' moment. A user signs up and immediately experiences core value. Track time-to-value and drop-off at onboarding steps. Kill friction ruthlessly.
Retention
Do they come back? Day-1, day-7, day-30 retention curves. Cohort analysis reveals whether your product is a vitamin or a painkiller. Retention is the real growth engine.
Referral
Users bringing users. Net Promoter Score, viral coefficient, invite flows. A coefficient above 1.0 means exponential growth. Make sharing feel like a feature, not a chore.
Revenue
How you monetize. LTV, ARPU, churn rate, payback period. If LTV ÷ CAC is below 3, fix retention or raise prices before scaling acquisition. Unit economics first.
The Golden Rule
Fix the leakiest stage before optimizing the next. AARRR is a waterfall — patching retention before acquisition is pouring water into a sieve. Measure everything, but act on the bottleneck.