North Star Metric

Also called NSM

The single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers, the one number a whole team can rally around. For a messaging app it might be messages sent, not signups.

Why it matters

Pick the wrong headline metric and you can grow it while the business quietly rots, vanity signups that never come back. A well-chosen North Star keeps everyone pulling toward real, retained value instead of noise.

For example

Airbnb's north star is nights booked, a single number that captures real value delivered to both guests and hosts, unlike raw signups.

Go deeper

The Only Metric That Matters Josh Elman · article The early Twitter and Facebook growth lead on picking the single metric that captures real, retained value, and ignoring the rest. Open joshelman.medium.com →

The Original Growth Hacker Reveals His Secrets Lenny's Podcast · video Sean Ellis coined both growth hacking and the north-star idea, so this is the concept explained by the person who named it. Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Related terms

Also in Starting Up

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

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