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    Product & PMF
    Entry
    Global · Global

    Time to Value(TTV)

    Also called: TTV, Time-to-value

    TL;DR

    The elapsed time between a user signing up and reaching the first meaningful outcome the product promises.

    Time to value measures how quickly a new user gets the benefit they came for. Shorter TTV usually correlates with better activation, lower churn, and higher word-of-mouth, every minute between sign-up and aha is a minute in which the user can drop off.

    Reducing TTV typically involves stripping setup steps, providing pre-populated example data, or moving heavy configuration tasks behind progressive disclosure. In PLG products, TTV under five minutes is a common target.

    Worked example

    A project-management tool measures TTV as the time from sign-up to the first task being completed by a teammate. The median was 4.5 days; after introducing a sample project + invite-teammate prompt during onboarding, it dropped to 38 minutes and trial-to-paid conversion rose from 6% to 14%.

    Common pitfalls

    • Treating TTV as 'fastest first click' rather than 'fastest real outcome'.
    • Lowering TTV by hiding important setup, then losing the user later.
    • Failing to measure TTV by user segment, power users and casual users have different baselines.

    When this shows up in a pitch deck

    PLG-led companies often show TTV in seconds on the Product slide and contrast it with the incumbent's onboarding length.

    Related terms

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