writing-north-star-metrics
Framework for defining a single, customer-centric metric that aligns teams and drives product decisions.
- Measure value delivered to users, not revenue or internal activity; use proxy metrics like messages sent or nights booked that correlate with long-term outcomes
- Ensure simplicity and universal understanding across the company; avoid composite scores and technical jargon that obscure meaning
- Verify actionability by confirming teams can influence the metric through their work, and add countervailing metrics to prevent gaming
- Ask clarifying questions about the moment users experience value, whether non-technical staff can discuss it, and whether it's a leading or lagging indicator
- Revisit every 6–12 months to ensure alignment with evolving business strategy
Writing North Star Metrics
Help the user define their North Star metric using frameworks and insights from 27 product leaders.
How to Help
When the user asks for help with North Star metrics:
- Understand the value - Ask what specific value the product delivers to users (not revenue or internal activity)
- Test for simplicity - Ensure the metric can be understood and discussed by anyone in the company
- Check for actionability - Confirm teams can actually influence this metric through their work
- Add guardrails - Help them identify countervailing metrics that prevent gaming
Core Principles
Measure value delivered, not captured
Itamar Gilad: "The North Star metric measures how much value we create for the market. WhatsApp measured messages sent because every message is incremental value. Airbnb used nights booked." Select a metric that tracks core utility provided to the customer, not business extraction.
Avoid lagging indicators
More from refoundai/lenny-skills
personal-productivity
Help users manage their time and tasks more effectively. Use when someone is overwhelmed with work, struggling with focus, trying to balance multiple responsibilities, or asking how to get more done.
4.6Kcompetitive-analysis
Help users understand and respond to competition. Use when someone is positioning against competitors, evaluating market threats, running competitive war games, or deciding how much to focus on competitors versus customers.
1.9Kbrand-storytelling
Help users craft compelling brand narratives. Use when someone is defining brand strategy, writing company positioning, creating pitch narratives, developing messaging frameworks, or trying to make their company story more memorable.
1.8Kwriting-prds
Help users write effective PRDs. Use when someone is documenting product requirements, preparing specs for engineering, writing feature briefs, or defining what to build for their team.
1.7Kcontent-marketing
Help users build content marketing strategies. Use when someone is starting a blog, building SEO, creating thought leadership content, or deciding on content formats and distribution channels.
1.7Kvibe-coding
Help users build software using AI coding tools. Use when someone is using AI to generate code, building prototypes without deep technical skills, or exploring how non-engineers can create functional software through natural language.
1.7K