What is traction?
Traction is the demonstrated evidence that a startup’s product or service is gaining customer adoption and revenue at a rate consistent with achieving meaningful scale. Traction is the single most important signal to investors, beyond pitch decks and projections.
Common traction metrics include MRR/ARR growth, active user growth, organic vs. paid acquisition mix, retention curves, customer counts, brand mentions and pilot conversions. Different stages emphasise different traction signals.