5.3

AARRR / Pirate Metrics

A five-stage funnel used as shared vocabulary for diagnosing where users are lost: acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, referral.

Dave McClure (2007)

What it does

Acquisition → activation → retention → revenue → referral. Gives a team shared language for where it is stuck.

When it breaks

Assumes a linear one-directional flow, which flattens multi-touch B2B and pushes retention to the end where it does the least good. McClure's own funnel percentages carry his explicit “not actuals” disclaimer. Never cite them as benchmarks.

Case

Airbnb instrumented its 2014 referral relaunch as an explicit five-stage funnel, logging 20+ events across web, iOS and Android, and reported signups and bookings up over 300% per day against the old system. A structural match rather than an AARRR-branded case: no canonical company case names the framework.

Airbnb Engineering · making referrals work ↗
Retention Was step three Acquisition Activation Revenue Referral
AARRR / Pirate Metrics · 5.3

In the wild

Unchecked · not part of the tier

What people have written about this tool in the last twelve months. A machine found these and nobody has read them. Everything above this line was checked by hand.

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