North Star Metric

The North Star Metric is the single key metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to its customers. For Airbnb, it might be 'Nights Booked'; for Facebook, 'Daily Active Users.' Focusing on a North Star Metric ensures that the entire company is aligned toward growth that actually provides real value, rather than 'vanity metrics' like raw app downloads or pageviews that don't necessarily correlate with long-term success.