It's Chris from We Are Founders

When I leaned down to collect my dog's "morning deposit" on my neighbor's grass today, I realized... Most SaaS teams in startups, solo founders, and builders, treat onboarding like a checklist. ✅✅☑️☑️☑️ That's wrong, and it's killing onboarding my friends. You see, I don't know where my dog will “powder his nose” next, but I have to give him some options and make sure he does it, because the alternative is landing on my carpet. So we go on a walk. Onboarding, on a high level, is actually "retention negotiation." Or in this context, taking your customers/users… on a walk. The window is usually the first 7-days, although those who miss day 1 tend not to progress. Now let's ask the real question here. What do you want to see on those 7 days? Day 1 → Can they import their data while reaching an aha moment, and do that without rage-quitting? Old yeller calls it, the firehose moment. 🐕‍🦺 Day 3 → Do they see their first “holy shit this works” moment? At this point, Lassie "Wow," should I come home? 🏡 Day 7 → Can they explain your product to their team? And B-i-n-g-o was his name... o. 🐶 Miss any of these is embarrassing, like forgetting to take that little plastic poo bag. My neighbor didn't like that.

The best growth channel in 2026 isn't even a channel. It's a product people can't shut up about.