Why Your Startup User Growth Is So Slow (And How To Fix It In 30 Days)

There are 4 big reasons your startup user growth is so low.

Reason 1:
You’re building your product for everyone - which means nobody feels like "this is really for me".

Reason 2:
Some weeks you post on Reddit, some weeks you DM people on Twitter, some weeks you run ads - you don’t have a real marketing channel that works for you.

Reason 3:
Your onboarding is weak. People sign up, click around for 2 minutes - don’t get a quick win - and leave.

Reason 4:
Even the few people who like your product don’t have a strong reason to come back next week - because your product didn’t become a habit.

For most founders I work with, the biggest problem is weak onboarding and no early win. So, let's fix that right now.

Here is what I mean by weak onboarding:

A user signs up and they land on a blank dashboard and they don't know what to do. They click around, get confused, and leave.
And they never come back.

Here’s a quick test to see if you need to fix this.
Ask yourself three questions.

1. Do users sign up but drop off after day one?
2. Can a new user get a real result in five minutes without me explaining anything?
3. Can I describe the first win in one simple sentence?

If you answered "no" to any of these, your onboarding is likely the main reason your startup isn't growing. Most founders don't see this. They think they need to run more ads or build more features.

But that won't help.

You need to give users an early win in the first 5 minutes.

So, here’s a simple four-week roadmap to give people that first win so you can get more users for your product. Good news - we're not rebuilding your whole product.

We're just fixing the first 5 minutes.
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In Week 1, we figure out what that early win actually is.
First, choose one core user. Like - who is actually using your product?

If you have a project management tool, are you targeting the freelancer who works alone, or the agency owner with ten employees?

This is important because their "early win" is completely different.

For a freelancer, their early win might be "Setting up their first project in under 60 seconds."

Now it’s your turn. Write down one sentence describing the early win your users get - make it super specific.

❌ A bad example would be: "User gets organized."
✅ A good example would be: "A user sets up their first project and creates their first task."

And now, write down every step a new user takes from sign up to that exact first win. Here is an example:

→ You sign up
→ Verify your email
→ Fill in your profile settings
→ Skip the tutorial
→ Create your project
→ Name the project
→ Create the first task

Now look at that list.

Would you go through all of that just to get started?
No. It’s just too long.

So for now, highlight the steps that are not really necessary.

You are done with week 1 when you have the full list of all the steps between "Sign up" and "The win." And you have marked the ones that are not needed.

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Now, before we move on to week 2 - getting more users is only one part of growing your startup. So, to make your life easier, I have created a really simple framework to help grow your startup - without getting overwhelmed.

It shows you exactly what to focus on and what you can ignore, so you can make real progress. You can grab the worksheet for free.

Now, let’s move on to Week 2.
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