── ── Startups
AARRR (Pirate Metrics)
A startup's growth is a sequential funnel — each stage gates the next. Great Acquisition is worthless if Activation is broken; great Activation is worthless if Retention is zero. Optimizing the wrong stage produces work that looks like progress while the bottleneck stays.
How it works
Run the Funnel Audit: define stages, measure conversions, identify bottleneck.
1. Define each stage for this specific product. Generic definitions hide the bottleneck. Activation = the aha moment, not signup. Name a measurable event per stage. 2. Measure conversion at each stage. Acquisition→Activation %, Activation→Retention %, Retention→Referral %, Activation/Retention→Revenue %. 3. Compare against domain benchmarks. A stage below benchmark is a bottleneck candidate (B2B SaaS day-30 retention 70%+; consumer freemium paid conversion 1–5% typical, 5–10% strong). 4. Identify the load-bearing bottleneck. Worst conversion relative to its benchmark — fixing it produces the largest system-level gain. 5. Pre-commit one experiment. Name the specific change, the metric, and the pre-committed threshold (per lean-startup). 6. Re-measure and re-identify. After the experiment, the bottleneck moves. Repeat — the audit is iterative.
When to use it
- user says 'our growth is stalling and we don't know why,' 'product and marketing are arguing about whose fault it is,' 'where is our funnel breaking,' 'pirate metrics,' or 'acquisition vs activation vs retention.' Also activate for: designing end-to-end metrics for a new product, building a shared instrumentation framework across teams
When not to use it
When the decision is routine and reversible, applying a formal method costs more than it returns.
Worked example
Dropbox's Referral Program (2009)
A worked example. Not a marketing legend — primary-source documented in Drew Houston's interviews and growth-marketing case studies.
Install this skill (free, MIT)
npx skills add deciqAI/knowledge-skills