A north star metric is the single number that best captures the value your product delivers, and the one a whole company can rally around. Here is how to choose one.
A north star metric is the single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers, used to align an entire company's efforts.
The north star is not revenue and not a vanity number. It is the measure of value customers actually receive, chosen so that moving it means customers are winning and, in turn, the business grows. Good examples capture usage of the core value (nights booked, messages sent, meaningful actions completed). It sits above your activation and retention inputs and keeps teams from optimizing local metrics that do not add up to value.
Without a north star, teams optimize their own metrics and pull in different directions. With one, every team can ask whether their work moves the number that represents customer value. It is the antidote to vanity metrics, and it makes prioritization clearer because you can trace inputs (activation, engagement, retention) up to the one outcome that matters.