Reference table
AARRR pirate metrics: the five stages
Dave McClure's startup funnel, with the metrics that belong to each stage
A reference table of the five AARRR stages in Dave McClure's original order, each with a plain definition and the metrics teams usually track. Startup founders and product managers can use it to find where a funnel leaks. AARRR shows where users drop off, and customer interviews, for example in Koji, help explain why.
Where this appears
What's in this reference table
| Stage | Definition | Representative metrics |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acquisition | Users discover and visit your product | Visitors, CPA/CAC, channel attribution, signup conversion |
| 2. Activation | First happy experience: the aha moment | Activation rate, time-to-value, % completing key first action |
| 3. Retention | Users return and continue using the product | DAU/MAU, N-day retention curves, churn rate, stickiness |
| 4. Referral | Users tell others, organic and incentivized | Viral coefficient (K-factor), NPS, referral conversion |
| 5. Revenue | Users pay or you monetize behavior | ARPU, LTV, MRR, payback period, free-to-paid % |
Use this image
Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/aarrr-pirate-metrics-five-stages-table"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/aarrr-pirate-metrics-five-stages-table/aarrr-pirate-metrics-five-stages-table.png" alt="Table of the five AARRR pirate metrics stages (acquisition, activation, retention, referral, revenue) with a definition and typical metrics for each." width="1200" height="745" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/aarrr-pirate-metrics-five-stages-table">AARRR pirate metrics: the five stages</a>, Koji</p>
