Pirate Metrics
The AARRR framework for tracking startup growth: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral.
What are Pirate Metrics (AARRR)?
Dave McClure's Pirate Metrics (AARRR) provide a simple funnel for measuring product health. Acquisition: how users find you (traffic, signups). Activation: first happy experience (completed onboarding, aha moment). Retention: users come back (DAU/MAU ratio, cohort retention). Revenue: monetization works (conversion to paid, MRR growth). Referral: users bring others (viral coefficient, NPS). Each stage has specific metrics. The framework forces you to identify leaks: high acquisition but low activation = onboarding problem. High retention but low revenue = pricing or monetization issue. Focus on one stage at a time — fixing activation before worrying about referrals. Pirate Metrics work best for consumer and PLG SaaS products.
Examples
A team notices 10,000 monthly visitors and 2,000 signups, a healthy acquisition number, but only 200 of those signups complete onboarding. That gap between acquisition and activation, not a lack of traffic, is where the team should focus first under the AARRR framework.