In the first 15 seconds, your visitors are lazy in the sense that they have no extra time to invest in something they don’t know. They are vain in that they want to look good quickly using your product. And they’re selfish in that, despite the big picture potential and purpose of what your service stands for, they want to know what will immediately benefit them.

Having to explain your product is the least effective way to engage new users (and explains why products like Photoshop struggle to attract non-Pros).

you feel the greatest impulse to jump back into a social product (whether it is for work, or for personal use) after you’ve just posted something for others to see. Why? Because your ego is on the line.

In all successful networks (and most other tools) I have seen, an immediate novelty or utility precedes the larger promised benefits.

The users of your product don’t want to make choices, especially when they are in the first mile.

Again, life and new products are hard enough. When you can use a familiar term instead of being original, do so. Never opt for a solution that is more creative but less effective.

The first mile of a user’s experience is the top of your funnel for new users and needs to be the most thought-out part of your product, not an after-thought.

For any product with aggressive growth aspirations, I’d argue that 30%+ of your energy should always be allocated to the first mile of your product. Even if your user experience for new users is performing well, don’t forget that new types of new users are the real source of growth.

It’s a paradox of success: As you focus more on power users, you stop engaging new users. The sad reality (and the opportunity for start-ups) is that most established products take their large userbases for granted and fail to maintain simplicity over time.