Traction

How it is used

One of the first things investors ask about: What traction do you have? Founders gain, show, get or build traction. Pitch decks often have a traction slide with a growth chart and key numbers. Early traction can be a waiting list or a few pilot customers.

Example sentences

1. We have strong early traction: 3,000 users and 40 paying companies in four months.

2. Come back when you have more traction, and we'll talk again.

Common collocations

• gain traction
• early traction
• show traction
• traction slide

Related terms

• product-market fitThe stage when a product clearly meets a real need in a large enough market, so customers buy it, keep using it and recommend it without much pushing.
• KPIKey performance indicator: a number a company tracks regularly to see whether it is reaching its most important goals, such as revenue, active users or churn.
• retentionA company's ability to keep its customers or users over time, usually measured as the percentage who are still active or paying after a certain period.
• MRRMonthly recurring revenue: the predictable income a subscription business earns every month from active customers, not counting one-off fees.
• hockey-stick growthA growth pattern where numbers stay flat for a while and then rise very sharply, so the chart looks like a hockey stick.

More terms: Growth & Traction

• scale
• churn
• go-to-market strategy
• growth hacking
• north star metric
• network effect