SoundCloud · Metrics · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

Which retention metric should mobile growth use?

SoundCloud is an online audio platform where people can listen to music and other audio, and creators can upload and share their tracks. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

metric_design
segmentation
strategic_judgment
benchmarking
written_communication

The situation

You are a PM on SoundCloud's mobile growth team. The head of growth asks you to recommend how the company should define and track retention for mobile, because different teams are using different numbers and reaching different conclusions about product health. Some leaders care about total signed in users, while others argue the more important question is whether people keep coming back to listen. The issue matters now because the next planning cycle will use retention trends to judge whether mobile growth work is succeeding and where to invest next. This is hard because SoundCloud serves at least two meaningful behaviors, listening and creating, and a single metric could hide one of them. A broad account based metric may be easy to report but may not reflect real engagement. A narrower listening metric may better match mobile usage but could understate creator value. Assume most mobile signups come to listen, while a smaller group uploads or manages tracks. You need to propose a retention approach that is precise, decision useful, and benchmarkable against the right peers.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product memo.

Your answer must

Recommend one primary mobile retention metric and define it precisely, including population, return event, time window, and how it would be calculated.
Explain how you would distinguish user retention from listener retention, and when each should appear in reporting.
Propose a benchmarking approach using relevant comparable products or categories, and explain why generic mobile averages would be misleading here.
Identify 2 to 3 cohorts or segments you would review separately, and what decision each cut would help inform.
List 2 to 3 secondary or guardrail metrics to pair with the primary retention metric so the company does not miss important creator or quality signals.

Constraints

Do not assume new features, partnerships, or pricing changes.
Do not rely on new user research or experiments before making the recommendation.
Use a metric framework that executives and product squads could start using in the next planning cycle.

Format

Use short sections with clear metric definitions. A small comparison table for metric options is welcome.

How SoundCloud actually played it

Interview with a former SoundCloud growth lead about scaling from ten million to far more users, retention benchmarks and how the team measured user versus listener retention. Useful for choosing the right retention definition.

Define the retention you track precisely
Benchmark against similar products, not generic averages

Built from Solving Mobile Growth and Retention with Andy Carvell, ex Growth at SoundCloud by Brian Balfour.