Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Intro 00:09 - Did we make something people want? 00:43 - Cohort Retention 01:42 - About me 02:31 - Key Insight: Why cohort retention? 02:54 - 3 variables to define 03:15 - Group cohorts 03:58 - Actions to quality as active user? 04:31 - Examples 05:21 - Best action to pick. 05:34 - Define the time period you want to measure this? 06:47 - Actual example where time period is measured 10:29 - What is good? 11:55 - The only thing that matters: Does the curve get flat? 14:49 - Avoid retention measurement mistakes 17:21 - Counterintuitive action: Paying users 18:43 - Looking at a single point 19:43 - Caution: Using analytics tools 21:27 - Ways to improve the curve 22:30 - Acquire better users 23:50 - Slice cohorts by different dimensions 24:41 - Improve the first user experience 25:24 - Have a network effect 26:07 - Holy grail: Curves that go up 26:43 - Conclusion 28:22 - Cohort retention doesn't replace talking to users 29:05 - Outro
As a regular viewer, this is one of the best YC videos I’ve watched - accessible, actionable, and high impact. Bravo to the team (production included) and thank you, David! 🙏
This video series is a treasure trove of valuable content. It's fascinating how, after watching just one, you start noticing others repeating the same ideas as if they were original. It reminds me of what happened with Radiolab: they pioneered groundbreaking stories, and soon after, you'd hear the same topics echoed elsewhere, often after Radiolab had already explored them first.
Great one, Mr. Lieb. Keeping the first customers (IE January) seems important. I know you mentioned acquiring better customers. How about improving the product especially for retention of the intial cohort?
Hey Dave, 1) is it bad if we arent tracking these metrics? Ie on a scale of things to track, how important is cohort retention? 2) Any recomendations for physical products that are in possession with the customer from day 1.
Cohort retention looks like it really helps identify which features or updates are working. It might be essential to know if your users are coming back and why.
When you talk about Cohort 1 and 2 with different graph lines, should Cohort 1 use the same product version for a year to track retention, or if they should receive updates? Or does each new cohort get a new version so you can compare how changes impact retention?
Nice to see a video with some humility and just good advice, instead of the usual videos from y combinator, which typically come across as if they think all founders are idiots and they are so much smarter (even though in most cases they actually just got lucky)
How does this apply to B2B SaaS if you’re selling to the company rather than an individual user? For example if you sell to enterprises who sign multi year deals.
Usually market place startups create a community for the buyers first. Once you have eyeballs the sellers join in droves. Initial phase focus on buyers
Thank you! But I have one question: For each cohort, it's possible that the numbers might drop in the first few weeks but then increase in the later weeks, right? Because there might be a situation where 'users don't want to use it in the first two weeks, but the usage increases after a month.
Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Intro
00:09 - Did we make something people want?
00:43 - Cohort Retention
01:42 - About me
02:31 - Key Insight: Why cohort retention?
02:54 - 3 variables to define
03:15 - Group cohorts
03:58 - Actions to quality as active user?
04:31 - Examples
05:21 - Best action to pick.
05:34 - Define the time period you want to measure this?
06:47 - Actual example where time period is measured
10:29 - What is good?
11:55 - The only thing that matters: Does the curve get flat?
14:49 - Avoid retention measurement mistakes
17:21 - Counterintuitive action: Paying users
18:43 - Looking at a single point
19:43 - Caution: Using analytics tools
21:27 - Ways to improve the curve
22:30 - Acquire better users
23:50 - Slice cohorts by different dimensions
24:41 - Improve the first user experience
25:24 - Have a network effect
26:07 - Holy grail: Curves that go up
26:43 - Conclusion
28:22 - Cohort retention doesn't replace talking to users
29:05 - Outro
That's so cool you got Mr. Beast to collab!
Hahaha what
No, it's David Laid
lol
Who’s Mr Beast?
Lol
As a regular viewer, this is one of the best YC videos I’ve watched - accessible, actionable, and high impact. Bravo to the team (production included) and thank you, David! 🙏
This is one of the best YC videos (or actually, one of the best video) I've ever watched. Pure gold. No BS. Straight to the point and super useful.
YC videos never fail to kick energy into me when I am having a tough time.
One of the best and most informative videos on this channel. Because it’s very specific.
addicted to y combinator videos. thank you
This video series is a treasure trove of valuable content. It's fascinating how, after watching just one, you start noticing others repeating the same ideas as if they were original. It reminds me of what happened with Radiolab: they pioneered groundbreaking stories, and soon after, you'd hear the same topics echoed elsewhere, often after Radiolab had already explored them first.
This helps me answer the big question, " Am I building the product people really want?". Thank you so much
Such a great video. Pure value, no fluff.
Is there a tool that makes it easy to track and visualize the data as shown in this video?
This is so simple and soooo important. Awesome. Wish you a flat cohort retention too, David!
Priceless video. Thank you , you re building great professionalism and wonderful culture
Thanks Y Combinator for all the Startup School content, you guys saved my blood.
bạn có đang tham gia startup nào chưa bạn
Excellent, so clear. Novel - we've revamped our churn analysis whilst also saving $300/m using another tool. So so good!
What are you using
@@sourmans Copy pasting monthly sales data into google sheets and running formulas
The best explanation I've ever heard
The best explanation on RUclips, Finally.
Awesome video, David! Sharing this with my whole team.
This was crazy-understandable and fun to learn. Thank you!
Great one, Mr. Lieb. Keeping the first customers (IE January) seems important. I know you mentioned acquiring better customers. How about improving the product especially for retention of the intial cohort?
Straight into my list of solid gold videos, really great one.
Hey Dave,
1) is it bad if we arent tracking these metrics? Ie on a scale of things to track, how important is cohort retention?
2) Any recomendations for physical products that are in possession with the customer from day 1.
This was fantastic content, please do more!
As always Thank You YC!
Cohort retention looks like it really helps identify which features or updates are working.
It might be essential to know if your users are coming back and why.
Could you please also talk about the churn analysis? Like how to measure why they leave a product
What a great episode, so many great learnings.
Thank you a lot for your time and this fantastic piece!
superb video for product managers and entrepreneurs. Thanks a lot
I really wish a flat cohort retention curve for you is such a yc-startup-founder way to say it😭
More of this kind of video please.
When you talk about Cohort 1 and 2 with different graph lines, should Cohort 1 use the same product version for a year to track retention, or if they should receive updates? Or does each new cohort get a new version so you can compare how changes impact retention?
very nicely explained!
Nice to see a video with some humility and just good advice, instead of the usual videos from y combinator, which typically come across as if they think all founders are idiots and they are so much smarter (even though in most cases they actually just got lucky)
Very Nice!
How do you slide Triangle chart in Excel (27:17) ?
Great video!
Complete chad of a man
Amazing video, thanks 🎉
How does this apply to B2B SaaS if you’re selling to the company rather than an individual user?
For example if you sell to enterprises who sign multi year deals.
How should I apply this to a marketplace business model? Do I make one cohort retention table for both side of users or should I seperate them?
Usually market place startups create a community for the buyers first. Once you have eyeballs the sellers join in droves. Initial phase focus on buyers
Phenomenal Video
great video
Cool video!
Thank you! But I have one question: For each cohort, it's possible that the numbers might drop in the first few weeks but then increase in the later weeks, right?
Because there might be a situation where 'users don't want to use it in the first two weeks, but the usage increases after a month.
Yes, this is why he talked about a great scenario is if you see the lines start to go up over time
Diagonal line isn’t yellow, it’s mustard
Nice video
More of these :D
Woaaah I guess my Actuarial exams were about more than insurance…
Gonzalez John Davis Charles Taylor Helen
Moore Edward Jones Jessica Martin Sarah
Winners Window Cleaning YC Fall 2024
You can do it!
Great insight. Thank you for the input.
shout out @davidlieb god bless him. good video