Page 131 · Module 05, Market Your Message · this screen continues that page
All 108 frameworksAARRR Pirate Metrics
Find where your growth is actually leaking
The prompt
Copy & paste readyLabelsReplace theseSwap the role below
Pro tip, from the book
Activation is the most underinvested stage in almost every early-stage business. It is the moment a new user first experiences genuine value the 'aha moment.' If you don't know what your activation moment is, you can't optimise for it. Ask AI to help you identify and define it before running any other growth experiments.
Who should run this prompt
Module role profileWho should build and review your marketing? Marketing fails at two points: when the message is unclear, and when it reaches the wrong people. The roles on this page cover both failure modes. Internal roles help you build, sharpen, and distribute. Outside perspectives — especially the cold customer — tell you whether what you built actually works before the campaign launches.
Choose any role to drop it into the prompt above. Only the highlighted opening clause changes — the rest of the prompt stays exactly as printed.
◆◆◆◆◆ → ◆ seniority, board level down to specialist◈ outside the organisation
How to make any role sharper
- Add years of experience: "...with 15 years in enterprise SaaS" produces different depth than just the title.
- Add what they care most about: "You care most about [X]" shapes every word of the output.
- Add their communication style: "Be direct. Flag risks first. No jargon." changes the tone entirely.
Use this when
The problem it solvesYou're investing in marketing and the numbers aren't moving. Or you have users but no revenue. Or you have revenue but high churn. You don't know which stage of your funnel is broken because you're not measuring them separately.
How the framework works
From the printed pageCreated by Dave McClure of 500 Startups in 2007, AARRR maps the five stages of growth: Acquisition (how users find you), Activation (when they first experience value), Retention (whether they come back), Revenue (how you make money from them), and Referral (whether they tell others). Most companies measure only Acquisition and Revenue the middle three stages are where the real insight and the real growth leaks are. Improving any single stage by 10% compounds across the entire funnel.
The method, in four moves
Do these in orderMap your current metrics for all five stages before analysing you can't fix what you don't measure.
Identify the stage with the largest drop-off that is your biggest growth lever.
Fix the weakest stage before investing more in Acquisition more traffic into a broken funnel wastes money.
Define one specific metric per stage and review weekly. Acquisition is the stage founders default to because it's visible, more spend, more traffic, more dashboard activity. But if Activation or Retention is where users actually drop, pouring more people into the top of a broken funnel just multiplies the leak. Fix the weak stage first. More Traffic Won't Fix a Leak
Where the framework comes from
Dave McClure, 500 Startups — AARRR Pirate Metrics, 2007
Pairs well with
As printed with this frameworkModule 05 — Market Your Message
Build the system that makes your right customer find you.
10 frameworks, printed on pages 114–133.
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