GrowthProduct
Lean Analytics
Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz
2013
Summary
Lean Analytics argues that most startups are drowning in data but starving for insight. The authors introduce the concept of the One Metric That Matters (OMTM): at each stage of your company, there is one number that best captures whether you are making progress. The book maps six stages of a startup (empathy, stickiness, virality, revenue, scale, and maturity) and explains which metrics are most important at each. It also covers how to set baselines, run experiments, and distinguish between vanity metrics and metrics that drive decisions.
Key Takeaways
- 1The One Metric That Matters: focus on a single number that best captures your current stage of growth
- 2Vanity metrics (pageviews, signups) make you feel good; actionable metrics drive decisions
- 3Good metrics are comparative, understandable, a ratio or rate, and change behavior
- 4Know your stage: the metrics that matter for stickiness are completely different from those for scale
- 5Cohort analysis reveals the truth behind aggregate numbers — compare groups of users acquired at the same time
- 6Set baselines before running experiments so you know what improvement actually looks like