An insightful and simple introduction to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics for Pirates (AARRR). An overall perspective on the importance of measurements and optimization for startups. @rafaeldahis

1. STARTUP
METRICS
for dummy pirates
rafaeldahis

2. rafaeldahis
24 years old
computer engineer, UFRJ
metrics
product manager at Peixe Urbano

3. PRODUCT ≠ STARTUP ≠ COMPANY

4. PRODUCT ≠ STARTUP ≠ COMPANY
FIRST

5. WHAT
do you mean by
PRODUCT ?

6. AND THIS
virtual
CHANGES
CHANNEL
EVERYTHING!
physical
physical virtual
PRODUCT

7. virtual
CHANNEL
physical
physical virtual
PRODUCT

8. costs building is cheaper
flexibility changing is quicker
metrics measuring is easier

11. why should we measure?
understand
and
optimize.

12. </intro>
<fun>

13. PRODUCT

14. PRODUCT
the world out there

15. I BET
you have heard it before:

16. we worked for
months building the
PRODUCT.
when we launched,
no one used it.

17. PRODUCT >

18. customer
development
Hey, look, users out there!
growth

19. Let´s talk about growth

20. PRODUCT

21. PRODUCT
users value
value = revenue, content, connections, engagement, data

22. def. profit:
REVENUE
>
COSTS
(my free definition)

23. PRODUCT
users value
(cost) (revenue)

24. PRODUCT
users value
(cost) (revenue)
dividing per user…

25. PRODUTO
cost / user revenue / user

26. PRODUTO
CPA LTV
cost per lifetime
acquisition value

27. my minimalist growth theorem
LTV > CPA

28. my minimalist growth theorem
max( LTV – CPA )

29. my minimalist growth theorem
CPA LTV
acquisition costs engagement
and friction

30. AARRR
Dave McClure

31. AARRR
Dave McClure

32. STARTUP
METRICS
for pirates

33. AARRR
2. ACTIVATION
1. ACQUISITION 5. REVENUE
4. REFERRAL
3. RETENTION

34. AARRR
1. ACQUISITION HOW DO THESE GUYS GET THERE?
WHAT TO DO?
Ads, SEO, Email, Social Media, Blogs, Biz Dev, PR…
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Costs/Visit, Conversions (visit quality).
CPA

35. AARRR
2. ACTIVATION WHAT DO THEY PERFORM AFTER THAT?
WHAT TO DO?
Landing Page Optimization, lots of UX iterations, value proposition review
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Conversions, bouce-rate, time on page.
“In God we trust, for everything else: A/B TEST”
CPA

36. AARRR
3. RETENTION DO THESE GUYS COME BACK?
WHAT TO DO?
Newsletter/Digest, Event-based messages, Push-notifications, life-
cycle emails
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Open-Rate, Click-Rate, WAU/MAU
LTV

37. AARRR
4. REFERRAL DO THEY INVITE FRIENDS?
WHAT TO DO?
Create/Optimize your Viral Loop, Contests, Social Media Campaigns
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Viral Loop Conversions, K-factor
CPA LTV
(If there is network effect)

38. AARRR
5. REVENUE DO THEY F*ING PAY???
WHAT TO DO?
Figure it out, bro.
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Revenue per user/source/medium
LTV

39. QUIZ AARRR
• high number of visits, high bounce rate, low time on site?
• high number of visits, few signups?
• steady visits, high % of new users?
• CPA (cost per signup) = CPC * signup-conversion ?
• low traffic from reference, search, direct?
• few premium users?

40. TIPS
from my own failures

41. TIPS
Stop. Is it time to grow?
(don’t waste money / time,
go out and find that delicious product-market-fit)

42. TIPS
vanity metrics is for TechCrunch
(and your Facebook friends)
(and your grandma)
Easy to spot: say no to absolute metrics
i.e.: visits, pageviews, signups…

43. TIPS
MEASURE EVERYTHING
=
MEASURE NOTHING

44. TIPS
FOCUS
(A, A, R, R or R?)

45. TIPS
one step at a time
1. Build (activation + retention)
2. Distribute (acquisition + referral)
3. Make money (revenue)

46. TIPS
OMTM
(one metric that matters)

47. TIPS
classify your backlog
(is this feature A, A, R, R or R?)

48. TIPS
hard to prioritize?
pretend you are “THE OMTM”.

49. TIPS
how often? daily.
Definitely not intraday.
Better than weekly.

50. TIPS
make measurement easy.
otherwise, no one will do it.
[dashboards, reports, queries library, goals configuration, funnel analysis tools]

51. TIPS
mobile?
same logic, different tools/metrics

52. questions?

53. STARTUP
METRICS
for dummy pirates
rafaeldahis