A North Star Metric (NSM) is the single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers. It aligns the entire company around one number. Good NSMs: weekly active users (Facebook), nights booked (Airbnb), messages sent (Slack). Bad NSMs: revenue (lagging), signups (vanity).
North Star Metric Criteria:
- Reflects core value delivered to customers
- Leading indicator of revenue (not lagging)
- Actionable — teams can influence it
- Measurable weekly or daily
- Captures breadth (users) AND depth (engagement)
Key Takeaways
- One metric that captures core value delivered.
- Must be a leading indicator, not lagging.
- Everyone in the company should know and track the NSM.
- Break NSM into driver metrics that teams can influence.