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Startup North Star Metrics

Pick the one number that shows your startup is working, the few inputs that move it, exact definitions behind each, and a weekly dashboard the whole team reads and acts on.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Startup North Star Metrics, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

200

Starter tasks

🚀 Founding & Startups

Startup North Star Metrics

Choosing the few metrics that show whether an early startup is working and building a simple dashboard the team checks weekly.

  1. Defining the moment customers get value
  2. Choosing a single north star metric
  3. Three input metrics that drive the north star
  4. Written definitions for every dashboard metric
  5. Event tracking plan for the core actions
  6. Filtering out test, staff and bot accounts
  7. Twelve-week baseline for the north star and inputs
  8. One-page weekly startup dashboard
  9. Guardrail metrics against gaming the north star
  10. Matching metrics to the company's current stage
  11. Monday dashboard refresh before the team meeting
  12. Weekly metrics review in the team meeting
  13. Monthly metrics write-up for the whole team
  14. Monthly cohort retention table update
  15. Data quality checks against source systems
  16. Quarterly north star target setting
  17. Anomaly log for unexplained metric moves
  18. Investor update metrics section
  19. Quarterly check that the north star still fits
  20. Experiment log tied to input metrics
  21. Leading and lagging metrics in practice
  22. Reading a cohort retention curve
  23. Spotting vanity metrics on your own dashboard
  24. Basic SQL for querying your own product data
  25. Simple statistics for small-number weeks
  26. North star examples from comparable companies
  27. Funnel from signup to the value moment
  28. Writing a metric narrative, not just a number
  29. Choosing a product analytics tool
  30. Deciding when the dashboard leaves the spreadsheet
  31. Replacing a vanity north star with a value metric
  32. Daily, weekly or monthly as the activity window
  33. Cutting the dashboard back to eight numbers
  34. Single source of truth for revenue figures
  35. Splitting the north star by customer segment
  36. Named owner for every input metric
  37. Board meeting metrics pack
  38. Fundraising data room metrics page
  39. Traction slide for the pitch deck
  40. First team walkthrough of the north star
  41. Annual metrics retrospective
  42. North star for a B2B SaaS startup
  43. North star for a consumer app
  44. North star for a two-sided marketplace
  45. Metrics before the first paying customer
  46. Solo founder's fifteen-minute metrics routine
  47. Metrics for a hardware or long sales cycle startup
  48. Metric tree with modelled sensitivities
  49. Versioned metrics layer for self-serve queries
  50. Holdout tests that prove an input drives the north star

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Defining the moment customers get value

Every good north star counts how often customers reach the moment the product is actually useful to them: a report shared, a booking completed, a bug fixed with your tool. Writing that moment down in one plain sentence, with the user action that proves it happened, gives every later metric something real to point at instead of signups or page views.

First tasks

  • Write one sentence describing when a customer first finds the product useful
  • Name the in-product action that proves that moment happened
  • Ask five recent customers what they would miss most if the product vanished
  • Agree the final wording with your co-founders and pin it in the team channel

Choosing a single north star metric

Your north star is the one number that rises when customers get more value and that predicts revenue a few months later. Scoring three or four candidates against the same tests stops the choice defaulting to whatever the analytics tool shows first, usually signups or total users.

First tasks

  • List three or four candidate north star metrics built on the value moment
  • Score each candidate on value, revenue lead, weekly movement and team influence
  • Pick the winner and write why each runner-up lost
  • State the metric with its exact unit and time window

Three input metrics that drive the north star

Nobody can work on a north star directly on a Tuesday afternoon, but they can work on the things that feed it: new accounts activated, existing accounts returning, depth of use per account. Splitting the north star into two to four inputs gives each part of the team a number they can move this week.

First tasks

  • Sketch the north star with the activities that feed it underneath
  • Reduce the list to two to four inputs a team member could move in a week
  • Test each input by asking whether it alone would lift the north star
  • Share the finished tree as one picture in the team channel

Make it yours.

Install Startup North Star Metrics, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.