Lifecycle Stages
Every product in Valtrics has a lifecycle stage that reflects where it is in its journey. Lifecycle stages help you make better decisions about investment, metrics, and governance.
Overview
The product lifecycle is a framework for understanding how products evolve over time. Valtrics uses four stages that cover the full product journey:
Introduction → Growth → Maturity → Decline
Each stage has different characteristics, priorities, and relevant metrics. Understanding where your product sits helps you choose the right KPIs and make better investment decisions.
The Stages
Introduction
What it means: The product is new. You're validating the idea, building an initial user base, and iterating quickly based on early feedback.
Characteristics:
- Small or no user base
- Rapid iteration and experimentation
- High uncertainty about product-market fit
- Focus on learning over optimization
Typical KPIs:
- User signups and activation rate
- Time to first value
- Qualitative feedback score
- Feature completion rate
- Early retention (D1, D7)
Investment profile: High relative to revenue. You're investing in building and validating.
Growth
What it means: Product-market fit is established. You're scaling adoption, increasing engagement, and optimizing for conversion and revenue.
Characteristics:
- Rapidly growing user base
- Proven value proposition
- Focus on scaling acquisition channels
- Increasing revenue contribution
Typical KPIs:
- Monthly/Daily Active Users (MAU/DAU)
- Revenue growth rate (MoM, YoY)
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Conversion rate
- Feature adoption rate
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Investment profile: High, but with improving unit economics. Growth spending should show measurable returns.
Maturity
What it means: The product has a stable, established user base. Growth has plateaued, and focus shifts to optimizing efficiency, maximizing value from existing users, and reducing costs.
Characteristics:
- Stable user base with low growth
- Established market position
- Focus on retention and efficiency
- Predictable revenue
Typical KPIs:
- Retention rate
- Net revenue retention
- Customer lifetime value (LTV)
- Cost per user
- Gross margin
- Support ticket volume
- NPS / CSAT
Investment profile: Moderate. Invest in retention, efficiency, and maintaining competitive position.
Decline
What it means: Usage is decreasing. The product may be losing relevance due to market shifts, competition, or strategic changes. You're evaluating whether to pivot, sunset, or transition users.
Characteristics:
- Declining user base
- Decreasing revenue
- Increasing cost per user
- Strategic decisions about the product's future
Typical KPIs:
- Churn rate
- Migration progress (if transitioning users)
- Remaining active users
- Support cost per user
- Remaining contract value
Investment profile: Low and declining. Focus spending on user migration or sunset activities.
When to Transition
There's no universal rule for when to move between stages. Use your judgment based on the signals below:
Introduction → Growth
Signals:
- Consistent user acquisition without heavy manual effort
- Positive retention metrics (users are coming back)
- Users are reaching "aha" moments predictably
- Revenue or engagement is growing month-over-month
Growth → Maturity
Signals:
- User growth rate is slowing (even if absolute numbers are still increasing)
- Acquisition costs are rising
- You're optimizing existing features more than shipping new ones
- Revenue is becoming predictable
Maturity → Decline
Signals:
- User base is shrinking consistently
- Revenue is declining
- Competitive alternatives are capturing your market
- Strategic priority has shifted to other products
Transitions Aren't Always Linear
Products can skip stages or move backward:
- A mature product might re-enter growth after a major pivot or market change
- A growth product might jump to decline if a competitor disrupts the market
- An introduction product might be retired without ever reaching growth
Update the lifecycle stage whenever the product's reality changes. The stage should reflect where the product actually is, not where you hope it will be.
How Lifecycle Stages Affect Valtrics
Value Discovery Recommendations
The AI recommendations from Value Discovery are tailored to the product's lifecycle stage. An Introduction-stage product gets different KPI suggestions than a Maturity-stage product.
Portfolio Context
In the Portfolio view, lifecycle stages help you:
- Filter products by stage
- Understand investment allocation across stages
- Identify products that may need stage transitions
KPI Relevance
Different stages call for different metrics. The table below summarizes which metric categories are most relevant at each stage:
| Category | Introduction | Growth | Maturity | Decline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | High | High | Medium | Low |
| Activation | High | Medium | Low | Low |
| Engagement | Medium | High | Medium | Low |
| Retention | Low | Medium | High | Medium |
| Revenue | Low | High | High | Medium |
| Cost/Efficiency | Low | Medium | High | High |
Best Practices
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Be honest about the stage. It's tempting to keep a product in "Growth" longer than reality warrants. Accurate stages lead to better decisions.
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Review quarterly. Set a calendar reminder to review lifecycle stages across your portfolio. Products can shift faster than you expect.
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Use stage transitions as decision points. When a product moves to a new stage, it's a natural moment to revisit KPI trees, targets, and investment levels.
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Don't fear Decline. Decline isn't failure — it's a natural part of the product lifecycle. Managing decline well (smooth transitions, cost reduction, user migration) is a sign of mature product management.
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