Time-to-Value (TTV)

Time-to-value is how long it takes a new user to reach their first moment of real benefit from your product. It's measured from sign-up to the point where they experience the thing they came for, whether that's a finished report, a connected integration, or a problem visibly solved. Shorter is almost always better, because every minute of friction before value is a chance for the user to give up.

This is one of the highest-leverage metrics a lean founder can obsess over, especially in a product-led model where the trial does your selling. If users hit value in five minutes, your activation rate climbs, your trial-to-paid conversion climbs, and your support load drops. The work is mapping the exact path to first value, then ruthlessly stripping every step that isn't essential. Onboarding, default templates, and sensible defaults all exist to crush time-to-value.