April 22, 2024
Today was all about removing friction—from onboarding, from communication, from my brain.
I spent the bulk of the day deep in the onboarding flow, trying to shave off the sharp edges that kept users from hitting that elusive “aha” moment. It's like we've been hiding the value behind a velvet curtain of confusion. Not anymore.
Product
Worked closely with our designer (still just one person, shoutout to Mariel) on simplifying early user experience. We stripped unnecessary screens, added better microcopy, and restructured when users see what. Less is more, turns out. Especially when they’ve got other tabs open.
Implemented Mixpanel events and connected Google Analytics to finally get visibility into drop-off points. Fingers crossed the funnels tell a clearer story by Wednesday.
Found a few minor bugs in the onboarding logic later in the evening. Squashed them before they could cause real trouble. Dev brain still online, apparently.
Also monitored backend load while adding more testers. Still holding steady, but it’s clear we’ll need architectural upgrades if we get even a modest spike in users.
Strategy
Had a long session prepping for an upcoming advisor sync. Spent time writing out our differentiation with brutal honesty—what we do better, what we don't (yet), and why it matters.
A competitor just rolled out a side-feature that's brushing up against our territory. Spent an hour breaking it down. Verdict: Not actually that impressive, but close enough to raise eyebrows.
Also reframed parts of our pitch with a marketing advisor. Learned I’ve been underselling our core story. Classic me.
Users + Feedback
Reached out to two new testers from very different backgrounds. Already seeing the value—they struggled in places our original group didn’t. Validation that echo chambers are dangerous, and fresh eyes are powerful.
And yeah… one team member is running hot. Too many late nights, too much load. Need to have a real conversation soon. Startups are marathons at a sprinter’s pace—dangerous if you forget to breathe.
What I Learned Today: How to Build Smarter Onboarding in 5 Steps
Here’s the quick formula I used today to rethink onboarding:
- Map the emotional timeline — Where does confusion happen? Where does satisfaction start?
- Shrink the ask — Fewer fields, fewer steps. Just get them to value.
- Microcopy matters — One clear sentence can be the difference between drop-off and delight.
- Use dummy walkthrough accounts to experience your flow like a new user.
- Track everything — No data = no clue what’s working.
Don’t make people work to understand your product. Nobody has time for mystery.
Tomorrow I’ll check the early data from Mixpanel, integrate the latest tester feedback, and fine-tune how to talk through our advantages without pretending we’ve already won. We haven’t. But we’re onto something.
Momentum is a weird beast. It doesn’t show up until you're just tired enough to not fully appreciate it. Pretty sure it visited today.
