Book

Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster

Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz · O'Reilly Media Paid Intermediate

The reason people track the wrong active-user number is usually that they copied a metric from a different kind of business. This book is the canonical fix: it maps which engagement and stickiness metric actually fits each business model (ecommerce, SaaS, mobile app, media, user-generated content, marketplace) so you are not measuring a low-frequency product with a social-app yardstick. Read the chapter for your model, then define your active-user rule to match.

  • Different business models call for different core metrics; there is no universal definition of active, so borrow the one that fits your model.
  • The One Metric That Matters idea forces you to pick the single number that reflects real value at your current stage instead of a vanity dashboard.
  • Its stickiness and engagement sections give you a language for defining an honest active-user event rather than counting logins.
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The question it answers

  1. How do I define and track weekly active users in a way that is honest for a low-frequency product?

Read with it

  1. This is the essay that reframes the whole question. Instead of asking whether your DAU/MAU is high enough, it tells you to look... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Essay The Power User Curve: The Best Way to Understand Your Most Engaged Users Li Jin and Andrew Chen
  2. Most active-user counts quietly measure app opens, which is exactly the dishonesty this question is trying to avoid. This piece... Mixpanel blog Article Monthly active users (MAU): Definition, formula, and 2026 benchmarks Mixpanel
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