Framework
North Star & Health Metrics
Aligns the company around what you're actually trying to maximise: one North Star metric to grow in absolute terms, guarded by a small set of health metrics that must stay above agreed thresholds.
Use this when teams are each optimising a different number, or when roadmap arguments keep circling because nobody has said out loud what the company is trying to maximise.
Choosing a North Star is an identity decision disguised as an analytics decision. At one fintech, leadership had to decide: are we a trading company (maximise trading volume) or an investing company (maximise the number of financially active users)? Same product, two different companies — and every roadmap argument was really that undecided question in disguise. You have to decide.
How to run it
Name the identity question
Each candidate North Star implies a different company. Put the options on the table and decide which company you are before you decide which metric to chase.
Pick one North Star
The single metric that best captures the value customers get from you. Maximise it in absolute terms — not a ratio you can game by shrinking the denominator.
“mFAU — monthly financially active users.”
Add health metrics with thresholds
A handful of guardrails — typically activation, engagement, revenue — each with an explicit "healthy" line agreed in advance.
“% of new users depositing within 14 days · % of users logging in · ARPU stays above €50.”
Run the operating rule
Maximise the North Star as long as every health metric stays healthy. When one dips below its threshold, fixing it takes priority over pushing growth.
What makes a good metric
- Obviously good — more of it is unambiguously better for customers and the company.
- Understandable — anyone in the company can explain it without a data dictionary.
- Measurable — you can track it reliably today, not after a six-month data project.
- Aligned with the company's plan — moving it moves the strategy, not a vanity number.
- Not too leading, not too lagging — leading enough that teams can act on it this quarter, lagging enough that it reflects real customer value.
One number to chase, a few numbers you're not allowed to break. The health thresholds are what make it safe to maximise a single metric aggressively — without them, the North Star becomes a licence to burn everything else down.
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