North Star Metric Selector
by @quochungto
Use this skill to construct a growth equation for a product and select a defensible North Star Metric that actually reflects core value delivery — rejecting...
Consumer Marketplace — Accommodation Platform
A short-term rental platform with strong early adopter retention asked: "Should we orient around DAU, total listings, or something else?"
The aha moment: a guest successfully books unique accommodation in their destination city within a single session. The growth equation revealed the core stages: listings (supply) × search sessions (demand) × booking conversion × guest satisfaction → repeat bookings. Nights booked was the only variable that captured both supply and demand satisfaction simultaneously — a night booked means a host listed a quality property AND a guest found and committed to it. Orienting around nights booked also surfaced a non-obvious lever: professional photography increased listing quality, which increased booking conversion in lagging markets. DAU would never have revealed this lever — the metric couldn't distinguish between users who browsed and abandoned from users who completed bookings.
Input metrics: listing completion rate, search-to-booking conversion rate, average listings per active market.
B2B SaaS — Team Collaboration Tool
A project management SaaS with a freemium model was orienting around monthly active users (MAU). The growth team suspected this was the wrong metric because MAU was rising while paid conversion was flat.
The aha moment: a team lead sees their entire team's tasks update in real time without anyone logging data manually. The growth equation exposed the gap: trial signups × team activation rate (≥3 members completing setup) × weekly collaborative sessions × conversion to paid. MAU failed the vanity metric check — a single user opening the app weekly counted as "active" even if they never invited their team, which meant they never experienced the aha moment. The better North Star: weekly collaborative sessions per team (defined as ≥2 members using a shared project in a 7-day window). This metric could not rise without teams actually collaborating, which is precisely the must-have experience.
Input metrics: team invite completion rate, shared project creation rate, integration setup completion.
clawhub install bookforge-north-star-metric-selector