Growth Funnel
Map your solo product's customer journey with AARRR (Pirate Metrics) to find the weakest funnel stage and pick metrics-backed priorities instead of vanity growth hacks.
Overview
Growth Funnel is an agent skill most often used in Grow (also Launch, Validate) that plans and diagnoses growth using the AARRR pirate-metrics framework across acquisition through revenue.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/kostja94/marketing-skills --skill growth-funnelWhat is this skill?
- Five-stage AARRR table: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue with key metrics per stage
- Dave McClure / 500 Startups pirate-metrics framing—actionable metrics over vanity metrics
- First-use intro optional; subsequent runs can skip straight to funnel diagnosis and recommendations
- Pairs with retention-strategy when the bottleneck is specifically retention tactics
- Aligns product, marketing, and customer-success work around one lifecycle model
- 5 AARRR lifecycle stages with paired key metrics in the framework table
Adoption & trust: 847 installs on skills.sh; 586 GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You are growing a product but cannot tell which lifecycle stage is leaking users or which metric should drive the next sprint.
Who is it for?
Solo founders with early traction who need a shared language for funnel diagnosis and metric prioritization before running campaigns or features.
Skip if: Teams that only need tactical retention emails without lifecycle framing—use retention-strategy instead—or builders with no users yet who should validate demand first.
When should I use this skill?
User wants AARRR / growth funnel planning, pirate metrics, acquisition–activation–retention diagnosis, or customer lifecycle metrics; mentions growth framework; not pure retention tactics (use retention-strategy).
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a structured AARRR map with stage-specific metrics and prioritized actions so product and marketing fixes target the real bottleneck.
- AARRR-stage diagnosis
- Prioritized improvement actions aligned to metrics
- Optional first-use context blurb then main output
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Growth funnels are owned in Grow because the framework optimizes recurring lifecycle metrics (retention, referral, revenue), but the skill is invoked whenever you diagnose bottlenecks across the full user journey. Analytics is the canonical shelf: AARRR is explicitly a metrics framework (CAC, activation rate, D1/D7/D30, LTV) used to prioritize experiments and dashboards.
Where it fits
Define which AARRR stage your MVP must win (usually activation) before building breadth.
Compare acquisition channels by CAC and downstream activation—not clicks alone.
Run a full-funnel audit when D7 retention stalls after a launch spike.
Decide whether referral or retention experiments come before new paid campaigns.
How it compares
Use instead of ad-hoc “growth ideas” lists when you need a standard lifecycle model with defined metrics per stage.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is growth-funnel for?
Indie builders and small teams shipping SaaS, content, or commerce who want Dave McClure–style AARRR planning without hiring a growth lead.
When should I use growth-funnel?
Use it in Grow when analyzing lifecycle metrics; in Launch when aligning distribution with activation; in Validate when scoping which early metric proves demand; whenever you say AARRR, pirate metrics, or growth bottleneck.
Is growth-funnel safe to install?
It is procedural marketing guidance with no built-in network calls—review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page before installing any skill from the repo.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Growth Funnel
# Strategies: Growth Funnel (AARRR) Guides growth using the AARRR framework (Pirate Metrics)—five stages of the customer lifecycle. Created by Dave McClure (500 Startups) to focus on actionable metrics over vanity metrics. Use this skill when diagnosing growth bottlenecks, prioritizing improvements, or aligning product, marketing, and customer success. **When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output. ## AARRR Framework | Stage | Question | Key metrics | |-------|----------|-------------| | **Acquisition** | How do users discover you? | CAC, CPA, conversion by source | | **Activation** | Do users reach "aha moment"? | Activation rate, time-to-first-value | | **Retention** | Do users return? | D1/D7/D30 retention, churn | | **Referral** | Do users recommend? | Referral rate, NPS, viral coefficient | | **Revenue** | Do users pay? | Conversion rate, ARPU, LTV | **Principle**: Define behavior-based events per stage; analyze by cohort. Quality over volume—channels bringing fewer but more activated users often outperform. ## Per-Stage Actions | Stage | Actions | Related skills | |-------|---------|----------------| | **Acquisition** | SEO, paid ads, content, partnerships, directories, marketplaces | cold-start-strategy, seo-strategy, paid-ads-strategy, directory-submission, distribution-channels | | **Activation** | Onboarding, use-case guidance, FAQ, case studies, free trials, trust signals | conversion-optimization, faq-page-generator, customer-stories-page-generator | | **Retention** | Support, churn analysis, feedback, loyalty, dunning | retention-strategy, email-marketing | | **Referral** | Referral program, affiliate, case study sharing | referral-program, affiliate-marketing | | **Revenue** | Pricing, conversion optimization, CAC vs LTV analysis | pricing-strategy, conversion-optimization, paid-ads-strategy | ## Tactics by Stage | Stage | Tactics | |-------|---------| | **Acquisition** | Google ads (keywords, display); organic SEO; social (LinkedIn, YouTube, X, blog); partnerships (NGOs, SMBs); directories, marketplaces | | **Activation** | Use-case guidance; video + blog tutorials; FAQ; case studies; free trials/credits; new-feature promotion; email; trust signals (reviews, media) | | **Retention** | Timely support; churn analysis; feedback collection; loyalty perks (credits, early access) | | **Referral** | Referral credits; signup email with referral CTA; enterprise case sharing; affiliate program | | **Revenue** | Conversion optimization; platform attribution; CAC vs LTV; post-campaign traffic analysis | **Post-campaign**: Analyze traffic and conversion by channel; reallocate budget to top performers. ## Implementation - **Events**: Define precise, behavior-based events for each stage - **Cohorts**: Analyze by cohort, not aggregate; compare cohorts over time - **Bottlenecks**: Identify stage with largest drop-off; prioritize there first - **Cross-functional**: Product, marketing, customer success share common language ## Output Format - **Stage** assessment (where are you strong/weak?) - **Metrics** per stage (current, target) - **Actions** prioritized by bottleneck - **Related** skills for each stage ## Related Skills - **cold-start-strategy**: Acquisition for 0→1; first users - **retention-strategy**: Retention and churn prevention - **conversion-optimization**: Activation, revenue conversion - **referral-program*