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PM Glossary

100+ terms every product manager should know — frameworks, metrics, acronyms, and interview language.

A

AARRR

— Pirate Metrics

A growth funnel: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral.

A/B Test

A controlled experiment where users see one of two versions; the winner is chosen by statistical significance on a metric.

APM

— Associate Product Manager

Entry-level PM role, typically 0-2 years experience, often part of a rotational program at FAANG.

ARR

— Annual Recurring Revenue

The subscription revenue a SaaS product would generate in a year at current run rate.

Activation

The point where a new user experiences core product value for the first time (the "aha" moment).

B

B2B

Business-to-Business — products sold to companies rather than end consumers.

B2C

Business-to-Consumer — products sold directly to individuals.

Bar Raiser

An Amazon interviewer, external to the hiring team, with veto power to maintain hiring quality.

Bottoms-Up

A sales/adoption motion where individual users adopt first and then influence org purchase.

C

CAC

— Customer Acquisition Cost

The total sales & marketing spend divided by the number of new customers acquired.

Churn

The rate at which users stop using or paying for a product.

Cohort Analysis

Analyzing users grouped by a shared characteristic (e.g., signup week) over time to compare behavior.

CRO

— Conversion Rate Optimization

The practice of increasing the % of users completing a target action.

D

DAU/MAU

Daily / Monthly Active Users — the standard engagement metric for consumer products.

Design Thinking

A user-centered problem-solving framework: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.

Discovery

Research work done before committing to build a feature; validates the problem and solution direction.

E

Epic

A large body of work made up of multiple stories; usually spans multiple sprints.

Eval

A test set used to evaluate an ML/AI model or feature. The single most important artifact in AI PM.

Expansion Revenue

Additional revenue from existing customers via upsell, cross-sell, or usage growth.

F

FAANG

Facebook (Meta), Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google. Shorthand for top-tier US tech employers.

Feature Flag

A runtime toggle that turns a feature on/off, enabling gradual rollout and instant kill.

FTUE

— First-Time User Experience

The onboarding a new user sees on first login.

G

GTM

— Go-to-Market

The plan to launch and grow a product — target segments, positioning, pricing, channels.

GMV

— Gross Merchandise Value

The total value of goods sold through a marketplace, before fees or refunds.

J

JTBD

— Jobs To Be Done

A framework for identifying the underlying progress customers hire products to make.

K

KPI

— Key Performance Indicator

The primary metric a team is graded on. Should be small in number and directly ownable.

L

LTV

— Lifetime Value

The total revenue a customer generates before churning. Paired with CAC as the growth health check.

M

MoSCoW

Prioritization framework: Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have.

MVP

— Minimum Viable Product

The smallest version of a product that delivers real value and validates a hypothesis.

N

NPS

— Net Promoter Score

A survey metric asking "would you recommend?" scored -100 to +100.

NRR

— Net Revenue Retention

The revenue retained from an existing cohort of customers over a period, including expansion and churn.

O

OKR

— Objective + Key Results

A goal-setting framework: qualitative Objective paired with measurable Key Results.

P

PLG

— Product-Led Growth

A go-to-market motion where the product itself is the primary driver of acquisition and expansion.

PMF

— Product-Market Fit

The state where a product satisfies a market's need well enough to drive organic pull.

PRD

— Product Requirements Document

The primary spec document for a feature or product.

R

RICE

Prioritization framework: (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort.

Retention

The percentage of users who return to a product over a defined period (D1, D7, D30 are common).

S

STAR

Interview answer format: Situation, Task, Action, Result — the default for behavioral questions.

SLA

— Service Level Agreement

A committed uptime or performance guarantee to customers, often 99.9%+.

T

TAM/SAM/SOM

Total, Serviceable, and Obtainable Addressable Market — the standard market sizing triple.

TC

— Total Compensation

Base salary + bonus + equity + benefits. The number to negotiate.

V

Vanity Metric

A metric that looks good on a slide but doesn't reflect real business health (raw pageviews, follower count).

Use These Terms Confidently in a PM Interview

Knowing the vocabulary is table stakes. Using it correctly under pressure is what wins offers. The cohort drills fluency in every term above.

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