user-onboarding

Name: user-onboarding
Author: refoundai

Design product onboarding that gets users to their aha moment in the first 30 seconds. Focus intensely on the immediate post-signup experience as the primary driver of word-of-mouth growth and long-term retention Remove friction between signup and core value by identifying and eliminating invisible blockers that prevent users from experiencing product features Apply game design principles like progressive disclosure and reward mechanics to guide users toward meaningful action rather than passive explanation Avoid common anti-patterns: skip carousels and explanatory screens, get users doing something valuable immediately, and design onboarding as part of the core product rather than a bolted-on afterthought

INSTALLATION

npx skills add https://github.com/refoundai/lenny-skills --skill user-onboarding

Run in your project or agent environment. Adjust flags if your CLI version differs.

SKILL.md

$2a

Retention wins come from early experience

Dan Hockenmaier: "Very often I think the biggest wins in retention come from inflecting the early user experience." The onboarding experience is the biggest lever for long-term retention, not just initial activation.

Design from onboarding outward

Merci Grace: "I would design the game from the onboarding experience." Use game design principles where onboarding isn't an afterthought but the foundation from which the rest of the product is built.

Remove blockers to the aha moment

Cam Adams: "We worked a lot on the onboarding process in the last couple of months of launch and that was really pivotal because the product features were there but there was this thing holding people back." Product features may be complete, but invisible friction can prevent users from experiencing them.

Avoid common onboarding anti-patterns

Skip carousels, non-native frameworks, and explanatory screens that don't provide value. Get users into the core product experience as quickly as possible.

Questions to Help Users

"What is the single moment where users first experience the core value of your product?"

"What happens in the first 30 seconds after a user signs up?"

"What friction is between signup and the aha moment, and can any of it be removed?"

"Have you watched real users go through onboarding and seen where they struggle?"

"How quickly can a user do something meaningful, not just view something?"

"What would the onboarding look like if designed like a game tutorial?"

Common Mistakes to Flag

Explanation screens instead of action - Users learn by doing, not by reading about doing

Delaying the aha moment - Every screen between signup and value is a potential dropoff point

Carousels and tooltips - These patterns often indicate the product itself isn't intuitive enough

Treating onboarding as separate - Onboarding should be designed as part of the core product, not bolted on

Ignoring the first 30 seconds - This is where most users decide whether to invest further

Deep Dive

For all 4 insights from 4 guests, see references/guest-insights.md

Related Skills

Measuring Product-Market Fit

Designing Growth Loops

Retention & Engagement

Usability Testing