Learn · Measure & improve
Measure what matters, improve on purpose.
Growth you can measure is growth you can improve. This track covers the metrics small teams actually need — churn, retention cohorts, activation — and how to run experiments that hold up on startup-sized traffic, instrument the right events, and decide what to test next.
In this guide
- 01How to calculate churn rateChurn rate is the share of customers — or revenue — you lose in a given period, and you calculate it by dividing the number lost by the number you had at the start. From there you split it four ways: customer versus revenue churn, gross versus net, and voluntary versus involuntary. Each answers a different question.Read
- 02How to read cohort analysis and retention curvesCohort analysis groups users by a shared start — the week or month they signed up — and tracks each group over time, while a retention curve plots the share of a cohort still active at each period. Together they separate real retention change from shifts in your acquisition mix.Read
- 03Activation rate and the aha momentActivation rate is the share of new signups who reach first value — the aha moment — within a set window. It is product-specific: you define the early action that correlates with staying, not a number to copy. This guide shows how to find that action, set the window, instrument it, and improve onboarding toward it.Read
- 04A/B testing with low trafficWith startup-sized traffic, most A/B tests are underpowered: you cannot reliably detect small effects, so the honest move is to test only big swings, use methods that need fewer samples, or skip the test entirely. This guide shows how to tell which situation you are in — and what to do instead.Read
- 05The event tracking plan for startupsAn event tracking plan is the living spec of every event you record — its name, its properties, when it fires, and who owns it. For a startup, start small: the eight to ten events that map your funnel from signup to activation to revenue. Add more only when a real question needs them.Read
- 06How to build an experimentation roadmapAn experimentation roadmap is a prioritized backlog of tests to run next, scored so a small team spends its few experiment slots on the highest-expected-value ideas. It turns a pile of loose hunches into a ranked queue, sets a review cadence, and forces the hardest decision: what to kill.Read
Related comparisons
- fromHello vs Customer.ioThe open-source alternative that brings the team, not just the tool.
- fromHello vs OrttoOrtto's breadth, but with the eight specialists who run growth and open-source ownership — your data, not Canva's.
- fromHello vs IterableEnterprise cross-channel orchestration — without the sales cycle, the annual contract, or the growth org to run it.
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