Churn

A subscription business with 5% monthly churn loses nearly half its customers a year. Growth has to outrun that before the business grows at all, which is why churn quietly decides whether a subscription product ever becomes valuable.

The inverse of churn is retention, and it is the number investors look at first. A product with 2% monthly churn and modest growth is worth far more than one with 10% churn and impressive sign-up numbers.