Growth Funnel
- 885 installs
- 787 repo stars
- Updated June 9, 2026
- kostja94/marketing-skills
growth-funnel is an agent skill that applies the AARRR pirate metrics framework to map and diagnose customer lifecycle bottlenecks for developers who need actionable growth metrics beyond vanity counts.
About
growth-funnel is a marketing-skills agent workflow (version 1.1.1) built around the AARRR framework—Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral—popularized by Dave McClure at 500 Startups to prioritize actionable metrics. Developers reach for growth-funnel when planning lifecycle strategy, diagnosing which funnel stage stalls, or translating phrases like "pirate metrics," "growth funnel," or "customer lifecycle metrics" into concrete measurement and experiment backlogs. The skill guides mapping actions across all five stages, spotting bottlenecks, and prioritizing fixes over vanity metrics. It pairs with retention-focused skills when retention tactics need deeper treatment, but stands alone for full-funnel planning and diagnosis conversations inside agent sessions.
- Applies the full AARRR (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) framework to any product or marketing wor
- Diagnoses growth bottlenecks by mapping current metrics against each of the five lifecycle stages
- Aligns product, marketing, and customer-success actions to prioritized pirate metrics instead of vanity numbers
- Includes ready-to-use question sets and key-metric definitions for every stage
- Explicit handoff to retention-strategy skill when retention tactics are needed
Growth Funnel by the numbers
- 885 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- +5 installs in the week ending Jul 29, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
- Ranked #491 of 1,879 Marketing & SEO skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Security screen: LOW risk (skills.sh audit)
- Data as of Jul 31, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
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| Installs | 885 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 787 |
| Security audit | 3 / 3 scanners passed |
| Last updated | June 9, 2026 |
| Repository | kostja94/marketing-skills ↗ |
How do you diagnose SaaS growth with AARRR metrics?
Map, diagnose, and optimize their customer journey using the AARRR pirate metrics framework.
Who is it for?
Developers and technical product owners instrumenting SaaS products who need structured AARRR funnel analysis and growth prioritization.
Skip if: Teams seeking deep retention-playbook tactics alone without full-funnel lifecycle framing.
When should I use this skill?
The user mentions AARRR, pirate metrics, growth funnel, or asks to diagnose which lifecycle stage is blocking growth.
What you get
An AARRR-stage funnel map with prioritized bottleneck diagnoses and lifecycle action recommendations.
- AARRR funnel map
- Bottleneck diagnosis
- Prioritized growth action list
By the numbers
- Covers five AARRR lifecycle stages
- Documented as marketing-skills version 1.1.1
Files
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: Referral stage tactics
- gtm-strategy: Full GTM; growth-funnel is lifecycle view
- integrated-marketing: Channel mix across stages
Related skills
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Use growth-funnel for full AARRR lifecycle diagnosis; pair with retention-specific skills when only retention tactics are needed.
FAQ
What framework does growth-funnel use?
growth-funnel uses the AARRR pirate metrics framework—Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral—created by Dave McClure to focus teams on actionable lifecycle metrics.
What version is the growth-funnel skill?
growth-funnel is version 1.1.1 in the marketing-skills repository metadata, covering full-funnel planning, bottleneck diagnosis, and lifecycle action mapping.
Is Growth Funnel safe to install?
skills.sh reports 3 of 3 security scanners passed. Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.