The hierarchy of engagement

Sarah Tavel, a partner at Benchmark and former first product manager at Pinterest, walks through two frameworks she uses with founders: the Hierarchy of Engagement for consumer social products and the Hierarchy of Marketplaces. The conversation covers core actions, retention loops, focus, tipping marketplaces, and why market currents matter more than market size.

01Key learnings

• Pick one core action that defines an engaged user and track it as your North Star, rather than vanity metrics like MAUs or sign-ups.
• Build the product so it gets better the more it is used and users have more to lose by leaving, which drives retention.
• Design network effects and re-engagement loops so that each user's activity pulls in and re-activates others without extra effort.
• Track retention by weekly cohorts and look for a plateau or 'smile' curve rather than a leaky bucket before scaling acquisition.
• For marketplaces, start with a tightly constrained market and aim for happy GMV, not raw GMV, before expanding geographically or by category.
• Look for a 'tipping' point where supply or demand starts coming to you organically, supported by growth loops and happiness loops like search ranking and reputation.
• Evaluate markets by their currents, meaning dynamics of change that pull a company forward, rather than just their total addressable size.
• Once a marketplace tips in one market, grow in three vectors (deepen use cases, expand within the market, and enter new markets) without spreading capital too thin.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.