Politecnico di Torino University of Turin School of Management & Economics

How Organizations Select Their North Star Metric

A Mixed-Methods Decision Framework for Growth Hacking Metric Selection

This survey is part of an academic research project at Politecnico di Torino and the University of Turin. We study how growth-oriented organizations evaluate and select their primary performance metric, the "North Star Metric." Your responses are fully anonymous and will be used solely for research purposes.

8–12 minutes Fully anonymous Academic research only

Politecnico di Torino & University of Turin

About You and Your Organization

Help us understand your professional background and the organization you represent.

A1. What is your current role?
A2. How many years of professional experience do you have in your current field?
A3. What industry best describes your organization?
A4. In which country or region does your organization primarily operate?
A5. What is the current lifecycle stage of your organization?
A6. Approximately how much total funding has your organization raised?
A7. How many full-time employees does your organization currently have?

Growth Practices in Your Organization

Tell us how your organization uses metrics, OKRs, and growth experimentation. Scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree → 5 = Strongly Agree.

B1. Our organization actively uses a single primary metric to guide our growth strategy.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
B2. How familiar are you with the concept of a "North Star Metric" (NSM)?
B3. Our organization has formally defined a North Star Metric.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
B4. We regularly revisit and update our North Star Metric as strategy evolves.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
B5. How familiar are you with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as a goal-setting framework?
B6. Our organization uses OKRs or a similar structured goal-setting framework.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
B7. Our organization runs rapid growth experiments (A/B tests, feature experiments, channel tests) on a regular basis.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
B8. Decisions about which metric to prioritize are made through a structured, data-driven process in our organization.
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

e.g., "Weekly Active Users", "Nights Booked", "Messages Sent"

B10. What best describes your company's primary business model?
B11. What is your company's current growth stage?

Criteria for Selecting a Growth Metric

Rate how important each criterion is when selecting a North Star Metric. Scale: 1 = Not at all important → 7 = Extremely important.

C1. Value Alignment

The metric directly reflects the core value your product delivers to customers.

Not at all important Extremely important
C2. Measurability

The metric can be tracked reliably and frequently enough to guide weekly decisions.

Not at all important Extremely important
C3. Actionability

Teams can directly influence this metric through experiments and initiatives.

Not at all important Extremely important
C4. Predictive Power

Short-term changes in this metric reliably signal long-term business growth.

Not at all important Extremely important
C5. Team Alignment

The metric creates a shared focus that unifies marketing, product, and engineering.

Not at all important Extremely important
C6. Gaming Resistance

The metric is hard to manipulate or inflate artificially when it becomes a target.

Not at all important Extremely important
C7. Experiment Sensitivity

The metric is sensitive enough to detect the impact of individual experiments.

Not at all important Extremely important
C8. Strategic Fit

The metric aligns with the organization's current growth stage and strategic direction.

Not at all important Extremely important

Comparing the Criteria

Identify your most and least important criteria, then complete two pairwise comparison tables. This Best-Worst Method section takes 3–5 minutes and is the analytical core of the study.

D1. Which ONE criterion do you consider the most important when selecting a North Star Metric?
D2. Which ONE criterion do you consider the least important when selecting a North Star Metric?

You may not select the same criterion you chose in D1.

D3. Best-to-Others Comparison

How much more important is your most important criterion compared to each of the others? Select D1 above to unlock this table. Scale: 1 = equally important · 9 = absolutely more important.

D4. Others-to-Worst Comparison

How much more important is each criterion compared to your least important criterion? Select D2 above to unlock this table. Scale: 1 = equally important · 9 = absolutely more important.

Evaluating Candidate Metrics

Please rate these metrics as if you were choosing for an organization similar to yours. Scale: 1 = Very Poor → 5 = Excellent. Use N/A if a metric is not applicable to your context.

Name it and briefly describe why it was chosen.

Reflection

A few final questions about your organization's metric selection history and any additional thoughts you'd like to share.

F1. How was the North Star Metric (or primary growth metric) originally chosen in your organization?
F2. Has your organization ever changed its North Star Metric?

Is there anything missing from the criteria listed in this survey?

0 / 500

Thank you for your contribution.

Your response has been recorded. All answers are fully anonymous - no identifying information was collected or stored. Your input will directly shape the first academic decision framework for structured North Star Metric selection.

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Politecnico di Torino & University of Turin

If the problem persists, contact ali.vaezi@studenti.polito.it