Strategies: Growth Funnel (AARRR)

Guides growth using the AARRR framework (Pirate Metrics)—five stages of the customer lifecycle. Created by Dave McClure (500 Startups) to focus on actionable metrics over vanity metrics. Use this skill when diagnosing growth bottlenecks, prioritizing improvements, or aligning product, marketing, and customer success.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

AARRR Framework

Stage Question Key metrics

Acquisition How do users discover you? CAC, CPA, conversion by source

Activation Do users reach "aha moment"? Activation rate, time-to-first-value

Retention Do users return? D1/D7/D30 retention, churn

Referral Do users recommend? Referral rate, NPS, viral coefficient

Revenue Do users pay? Conversion rate, ARPU, LTV

Principle: Define behavior-based events per stage; analyze by cohort. Quality over volume—channels bringing fewer but more activated users often outperform.

Per-Stage Actions

Stage Actions Related skills

Acquisition SEO, paid ads, content, partnerships, directories, marketplaces cold-start-strategy, seo-strategy, paid-ads-strategy, directory-submission, distribution-channels

Activation Onboarding, use-case guidance, FAQ, case studies, free trials, trust signals conversion-optimization, faq-page-generator, customer-stories-page-generator

Retention Support, churn analysis, feedback, loyalty, dunning retention-strategy, email-marketing

Referral Referral program, affiliate, case study sharing referral-program, affiliate-marketing

Revenue Pricing, conversion optimization, CAC vs LTV analysis pricing-strategy, conversion-optimization, paid-ads-strategy

Tactics by Stage

Stage Tactics

Acquisition Google ads (keywords, display); organic SEO; social (LinkedIn, YouTube, X, blog); partnerships (NGOs, SMBs); directories, marketplaces

Activation Use-case guidance; video + blog tutorials; FAQ; case studies; free trials/credits; new-feature promotion; email; trust signals (reviews, media)

Retention Timely support; churn analysis; feedback collection; loyalty perks (credits, early access)

Referral Referral credits; signup email with referral CTA; enterprise case sharing; affiliate program

Revenue Conversion optimization; platform attribution; CAC vs LTV; post-campaign traffic analysis

Post-campaign: Analyze traffic and conversion by channel; reallocate budget to top performers.

Implementation

• Events: Define precise, behavior-based events for each stage

• Cohorts: Analyze by cohort, not aggregate; compare cohorts over time

• Bottlenecks: Identify stage with largest drop-off; prioritize there first

• Cross-functional: Product, marketing, customer success share common language

Output Format

• Stage assessment (where are you strong/weak?)

• Metrics per stage (current, target)

• Actions prioritized by bottleneck

• Related skills for each stage

Related Skills

• cold-start-strategy: Acquisition for 0→1; first users

• retention-strategy: Retention and churn prevention

• conversion-optimization: Activation, revenue conversion

• referral-program: Referral stage tactics

• gtm-strategy: Full GTM; growth-funnel is lifecycle view

• integrated-marketing: Channel mix across stages