North Star Metric Workshop
The North Star Metric (NSM) Workshop is a structured session for identifying, validating, and operationalising the single metric that best captures the core value a product delivers to its customers — and that predicts the long-term sustainable growth of the business. The North Star concept was popularised in Silicon Valley growth culture and extensively developed by Amplitude co-founder Josh Elman and later codified in Amplitude's North Star Playbook. The NSM sits at the intersection of two requirements: it must reflect genuine value delivered to users (not a proxy for company revenue), and it must be a leading indicator of business health. Classic examples include Airbnb's 'nights booked', Spotify's 'time spent listening', and Slack's 'messages sent within an organisation'. A good NSM has six properties: it expresses value to customers, it predicts long-term revenue, it is measurable, it is actionable by the team, it is understandable to everyone, and it is neither a vanity metric nor a pure financial metric. In a workshop, the NSM process involves three interconnected outputs: defining the NSM itself, identifying the 3–5 'input metrics' that feed into it (the levers the team controls), and drawing the input tree that shows how team-level work flows up to the NSM. The input tree transforms the NSM from an abstract goal into an operational system that every team member can connect their daily work to.
Facilitation script
- 1
Set the context: explain what a North Star Metric is, share examples from comparable companies, and present the six properties of a good NSM — stressing that it must capture value delivered to customers, not revenue.
15 min - 2
Map value delivery: ask 'What is the core action or experience that delivers value to our users?' and brainstorm candidate value moments on sticky notes.
20 min - 3
Translate the value moments into 5–10 candidate metrics, each written as a specific, countable number with a timeframe, e.g. 'tasks completed per user per week'.
15 min - 4
Score every candidate 1–3 against the six criteria in a grid: reflects user value, predicts revenue, measurable, actionable, understandable, not vanity or pure revenue. Modify or eliminate candidates with a structural weakness on any criterion.
20 min - 5
Bring the top 2–3 candidates to a group vote, then pressure-test the winner: 'Could this number go up while users get less value?' and 'Could it go down while users are deeply satisfied?'
15 min - 6
Define the 3–5 input metrics that drive the NSM — the levers the team actually controls, often corresponding to stages of the user journey.
20 min - 7
Draw the input tree: the NSM at the top, the input metrics feeding it, and below each input the team-level activities and experiments that move it.
15 min - 8
Set the current baseline and a 6–12 month target for the NSM, and agree the review cadence and who is accountable for the overall number.
10 min
Tips
The most common failure in NSM workshops is selecting a revenue metric as the North Star. Revenue is the output; the NSM should be the cause. If you can only grow revenue by delivering more value, then improving the NSM will automatically improve revenue — but not vice versa.
Be ruthless about the 'could this number go up while delivering less value?' test. Download counts, sign-ups, and page views fail this test consistently.
Input metrics are where teams get actionable. Spend at least as much time on inputs as on the NSM itself — the NSM is directional, the inputs are operational.
Run this workshop with a cross-functional group that includes engineering, product, data, and growth. If the NSM is set by leadership alone without team buy-in, it will not change daily behaviour.
The NSM should be reviewed annually, not locked forever. As the product and market evolve, the core value exchange may shift — and the NSM should evolve with it.
Common pitfalls
Selecting a revenue metric as the North Star — revenue is the output, not the cause, and the workshop ends with a lagging indicator no team can act on daily
Letting a vanity metric through because it is easy to measure — downloads, sign-ups, and page views all fail the 'could this go up while users get less value?' test
Spending the whole session on the NSM and skipping the input metrics — the group leaves with a directional slogan and no operational levers, and nothing changes on Monday
Running the workshop after leadership has privately decided the metric — participants sense the theatre, buy-in evaporates, and the NSM never reaches daily decisions
Treating the chosen NSM as permanent — without an annual review, the metric outlives the value exchange it was built to measure
Variations
For multi-product companies, run separate NSM workshops per product line before aligning on a portfolio-level NSM. For early-stage startups pre-product-market fit, use a 'North Star hypothesis' that is reviewed monthly rather than committed to as a long-term metric. Pair with AARRR Pirate Metrics to connect funnel stage metrics to the NSM input tree.
Where it fits
When to use it
A growth or product team is chasing fragmented KPIs and needs one shared metric that everyone's work rolls up to
Annual OKR planning needs a leading-indicator objective rather than another lagging revenue target
The company has pivoted and the old success metrics no longer describe the value the product delivers
New leadership needs strategic alignment, and a structured metric debate builds shared understanding faster than a vision document
You are preparing a fundraise and need a metrics narrative that connects user value to long-term revenue
When not to use it
The startup is pre-product-market fit — commit to a monthly-reviewed 'North Star hypothesis' instead of locking in a long-term metric while the value exchange is still shifting
Leadership wants to hand down a metric without cross-functional involvement — an NSM set without team buy-in will not change daily behaviour, so wait until the group can genuinely decide
You need stage-by-stage funnel diagnostics rather than a single directional metric — AARRR Pirate Metrics covers acquisition-to-referral breakdowns better
The real question is which features to build next — use RICE or ICE scoring on the backlog; an NSM tells you what to move, not what to ship
Engineering, product, or data people are missing from the room — without those who instrument and move the metric, you will pick something unmeasurable or unactionable
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is a North Star Metric?▾
A North Star Metric (NSM) is the single metric that best captures the core value a product delivers to its customers and predicts the long-term, sustainable growth of the business. A good NSM has six properties: it expresses customer value, predicts revenue, is measurable, is actionable by the team, is understandable to everyone, and is neither a vanity metric nor a pure financial one. The concept was popularised in Silicon Valley growth culture and codified in Amplitude's North Star Playbook.
What are examples of North Star Metrics?▾
Classic examples are Airbnb's 'nights booked', Spotify's 'time spent listening', and Slack's 'messages sent within an organisation'. Each counts a moment of delivered customer value rather than money changing hands — and each reliably leads revenue: more nights booked or messages sent today predicts more revenue tomorrow.
How do you choose a North Star Metric?▾
Run a structured workshop of roughly 90–180 minutes with a cross-functional group spanning engineering, product, data, and growth: brainstorm the moments where users get value, translate them into 5–10 candidate metrics with timeframes, score each 1–3 against the six NSM criteria, and pressure-test the winner with two questions — could it rise while users get less value (vanity), and could it fall while users are satisfied (too narrow)? Then define the 3–5 input metrics the team controls.
Can revenue be a North Star Metric?▾
No — revenue is the output, and the North Star Metric should be the cause. If the NSM genuinely captures customer value, growing it will grow revenue automatically, but the reverse does not hold: revenue can rise in the short term while value delivery declines. The six-criteria check explicitly excludes pure financial metrics for this reason.
What are input metrics in the North Star framework?▾
Input metrics are the 3–5 levers the team directly controls that drive the North Star Metric, often corresponding to stages of the user journey. In the workshop they are mapped in an input tree with the NSM at the top and team-level activities and experiments below each input, turning the NSM from an abstract goal into an operational system. Spend at least as much time on inputs as on the NSM itself — the NSM is directional, the inputs are operational.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Amplitude / Josh Elman / Sean Ellis.