Launch HN: Frigade (YC W23) – Faster, better product onboarding
59 comments
Disclaimer: I’m not your target audience, and I only wanted to leave some minor bits of feedback about your home page. The page does look very neat to me overall, and I like the idea of making it an interactive demo. However, there are some UX/design details that I had trouble to wrap my head around:
- The demo onboarding flow is embedded into a fictional website (acme.com). That sample website only seems “half-functional”, though, and it took me a while to understand how it relates to the enclosing home page: some controls take effect within the embedded acme.com website (e.g. the clicking on the checklist items, which reveal content in the right-hand panel); some controls take effect outside of the embedded sample website, i.e., on the enclosing home page (e.g. clicking on the “See use cases” button, which makes the entire page scroll down); some controls don’t take effect at all (the items of the fake menu on the left hand side, e.g. “Team”, “Settings”, etc. – except for the “Reset demo” button, though). It might well be just me, but for my taste the overall design approach of the demo feels quite “meta”.
- I was able to complete the first checklist item “Welcome to Frigade!” by clicking the “Mark complete” button. But I couldn’t figure out how to complete the second item (“See use cases”) – even though I saw all use cases. Is that right, or did I miss something? The progress indicator in the lower right-hand corner suggests that I’d be able to complete all 6 steps at least, but clicking on it only brings me back to the embedded acme.com sample website, so I’m seemingly stuck in an endless loop. (I managed to escape, so don’t worry, I’m good!)
- I’m German, and I think the ACME running gag isn’t as well known here as in the US. So I was initially wondering what the embedded acme.com web page was about, what it had to do with the “real” https://acme.com/ website, or maybe with the ACME protocol (Automatic Certificate Management Environment, used e.g. by Let’s Encrypt). Maybe something like example.org might be more clear or ubiquitous? (Although also less funny, admittedly.)
- The demo onboarding flow is embedded into a fictional website (acme.com). That sample website only seems “half-functional”, though, and it took me a while to understand how it relates to the enclosing home page: some controls take effect within the embedded acme.com website (e.g. the clicking on the checklist items, which reveal content in the right-hand panel); some controls take effect outside of the embedded sample website, i.e., on the enclosing home page (e.g. clicking on the “See use cases” button, which makes the entire page scroll down); some controls don’t take effect at all (the items of the fake menu on the left hand side, e.g. “Team”, “Settings”, etc. – except for the “Reset demo” button, though). It might well be just me, but for my taste the overall design approach of the demo feels quite “meta”.
- I was able to complete the first checklist item “Welcome to Frigade!” by clicking the “Mark complete” button. But I couldn’t figure out how to complete the second item (“See use cases”) – even though I saw all use cases. Is that right, or did I miss something? The progress indicator in the lower right-hand corner suggests that I’d be able to complete all 6 steps at least, but clicking on it only brings me back to the embedded acme.com sample website, so I’m seemingly stuck in an endless loop. (I managed to escape, so don’t worry, I’m good!)
- I’m German, and I think the ACME running gag isn’t as well known here as in the US. So I was initially wondering what the embedded acme.com web page was about, what it had to do with the “real” https://acme.com/ website, or maybe with the ACME protocol (Automatic Certificate Management Environment, used e.g. by Let’s Encrypt). Maybe something like example.org might be more clear or ubiquitous? (Although also less funny, admittedly.)
Thanks for taking the time to write this all up.
- Agreed it's meta and could be more clear if it were entirely for our own website, or entirely contained within the fictional website at the top. Will keep this in mind for our next pass of the website and demo.
- Yikes. Not great when our tool that helps with usability is confusing to use. In this case, to get credit for step 2, you need to tap on Activation which has a little blinking blue nudge. Sounds like it may be too subtle -- a full on tooltip may make that more clear.
- Yeah, I believe Acme's widespread usage stems from its inclusion in Road Runner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Corporation We're trying to target a global audience, so like the idea of switching to something like "Example.org"
- Agreed it's meta and could be more clear if it were entirely for our own website, or entirely contained within the fictional website at the top. Will keep this in mind for our next pass of the website and demo.
- Yikes. Not great when our tool that helps with usability is confusing to use. In this case, to get credit for step 2, you need to tap on Activation which has a little blinking blue nudge. Sounds like it may be too subtle -- a full on tooltip may make that more clear.
- Yeah, I believe Acme's widespread usage stems from its inclusion in Road Runner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Corporation We're trying to target a global audience, so like the idea of switching to something like "Example.org"
Nice job on the product.
Same feedback as GP. I actually read this comment before I checked it out and still couldn't figure out step two. Had to come back and read your instructions again.
I think it's probably related to what they put in point #1
Edit: Also a bit confusing because there is no feedback after you click "Activation" i.e. no scroll or toast. Adds to the disconnected feel, but again, I think this would probably be fixed if I knew I was looking for stuff outside the demo pane
Same feedback as GP. I actually read this comment before I checked it out and still couldn't figure out step two. Had to come back and read your instructions again.
I think it's probably related to what they put in point #1
Edit: Also a bit confusing because there is no feedback after you click "Activation" i.e. no scroll or toast. Adds to the disconnected feel, but again, I think this would probably be fixed if I knew I was looking for stuff outside the demo pane
Love the idea of firing a toast for actions completed off-screen further down the page.
Definitely a pain point for many companies but I think you need to have a pitch directed at PMs too. Something that tells a PM "you need good onboarding and it normally takes time to build that. Implement our solution and you'll get better onboarding and access to data you want so that you don't need to beg your developers to give it to you."
You probably don't need to convince developers that they should use this, you need to convince a PM that this is going to make their lives easier (because it makes their own life easier and their devs'.)
You probably don't need to convince developers that they should use this, you need to convince a PM that this is going to make their lives easier (because it makes their own life easier and their devs'.)
For sure. Right now it's mostly CTOs and engineers who are excited about Frigade. The product people and customer success folks we've talked to tend to care less about how it gets built, and moreso that it's built well and fast.
I like the suggestion you gave on how we can frame Frigade. It's a way to finally prioritize better onboarding, and self-serve access to the related data, without committing too much development time.
I like the suggestion you gave on how we can frame Frigade. It's a way to finally prioritize better onboarding, and self-serve access to the related data, without committing too much development time.
That's the beauty of what you have. The product people don't care _how_ it's built, just that it is built and quickly - which is exactly the value you add. You need to show the product people that this is the best way to get this done AND you bring additional functionality to the table. Every product person should be looking at this like it's a no-brainer.
Interesting. I currently work for a tiny 6 person non-profit that has a web and mobile app that we provide access to for other non profits to use, and onboarding is a pain point. I reached out, though I suspect we don't have enough funds for the service.
We'd be happy to waive any fees for non-profits. Send me a note at [email protected] and we can get you access.
I was just Googling around for something similar yesterday!
Looking to begin with a simple native "checklist with videos" inside a web app for product training, but without all the bells and whistles of a Learning Management System.
Signed up.
Looking to begin with a simple native "checklist with videos" inside a web app for product training, but without all the bells and whistles of a Learning Management System.
Signed up.
echoing others in saynig that this copy resonates:
> There are no-code tools for onboarding (e.g. Pendo, Appcues, Intercom), but they’re rigid and clumsy. They’re built for marketers and managers rather than developers, so they sit on top of your product instead of feeling native. They’re not defined in your codebase, frequently break without teams noticing, and there are limits to what you can build with them. Unlike these tools, Frigade uses native SDKs and provides an API for developers to build new onboardings in code.
pls keep it and keep going. congrats on launch
> There are no-code tools for onboarding (e.g. Pendo, Appcues, Intercom), but they’re rigid and clumsy. They’re built for marketers and managers rather than developers, so they sit on top of your product instead of feeling native. They’re not defined in your codebase, frequently break without teams noticing, and there are limits to what you can build with them. Unlike these tools, Frigade uses native SDKs and provides an API for developers to build new onboardings in code.
pls keep it and keep going. congrats on launch
Will do!
Congratulations on the launch! I've been searching for a digital adoption tool that I actually like for months, and this might finally be it. Other tools we've tried have either been too complex for non-technical people to use or too UI-focused for developers to enjoy working with.
One concern I have, as a European, is GDPR compliance. Since your platform manages data, it's likely that a lot of information is being tracked on your servers. Are you taking GDPR into consideration, and do you have plans for this, such as EU region?
One concern I have, as a European, is GDPR compliance. Since your platform manages data, it's likely that a lot of information is being tracked on your servers. Are you taking GDPR into consideration, and do you have plans for this, such as EU region?
Data and security is a top concern. We're currently in the process of getting SOCII compliant, and we'll look to continue to add more compliance like GDPR, too, which becomes easier/faster once you've already completed something like SOCII.
I can't believe something like this doesn't exist yet. I've tried adding other onboarding tools and it's always been so clunky, and this really hits the right spot.
Love it!
Love it!
We were surprised too. We started looking for a solution at our last startup and never found anything.
Nice product!
A couple of questions:
1. What does pricing look like for mobile? I'd love to give your tool a shot.
2. Why make your docs private? If this weren't HN, I wouldn't trust your product or think it was for real given the lack of public docs.
3. When you say you leverage the native platform SDKs, what does that mean for React Native? Do you use any iOS/Android native modules?
1. What does pricing look like for mobile? I'd love to give your tool a shot.
2. Why make your docs private? If this weren't HN, I wouldn't trust your product or think it was for real given the lack of public docs.
3. When you say you leverage the native platform SDKs, what does that mean for React Native? Do you use any iOS/Android native modules?
1. We've not focused on mobile right now, but you can see the original RN package we built here (https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-native-onboard). For pricing, we're still figuring that out, but it would be competitive with Appcues e.g. free trial and starting around $299/mo
2. Thanks for the feedback. We'll get the docs live ASAP.
3. When we say native we just mean it's not a janky iframe or web view, it's actual React Native code.
2. Thanks for the feedback. We'll get the docs live ASAP.
3. When we say native we just mean it's not a janky iframe or web view, it's actual React Native code.
I'm your target customer, as we're thinking about building this right now.
I just checked out Appcues (didn't know about it until this post), and got sticker shock at the cost.
IMO, $299/mth is high for the value this delivers, however it's possible I don't have a full appreciation of what you're doing yet.
Also, we're a startup, so I'm keen to understand when your pricing kicks in.
Have signed up for your beta!
I just checked out Appcues (didn't know about it until this post), and got sticker shock at the cost.
IMO, $299/mth is high for the value this delivers, however it's possible I don't have a full appreciation of what you're doing yet.
Also, we're a startup, so I'm keen to understand when your pricing kicks in.
Have signed up for your beta!
Cool, thanks for the resources and being open about the feedback
Congrats on the launch. I've been looking at Intercom and considering integrating it with our product, and I hadn't considered the issues you brought up. We're a B2C company, does that mean we aren't a good fit?
I think it depends on the use case. What features from Intercom are you most interested in?
Sweet. Any plans for the SDK to support Vue?
Coming soon :) -- we started with React and Vue is the next web frontend framework on our list.
Congrats, Frigade! I'm on the team at Vanta that is revamping our user onboarding flows and really wish y'all had launched a couple months ago! Building out the platform to support these experiences internally is no small feat and can blow up in scope quickly. Kudos!
Eric was kind enough to take the time to send us candid and actionable feedback as he went through Vanta's onboarding which definitely helped us smooth out a couple wrinkles. Thanks so much for that.
Eric was kind enough to take the time to send us candid and actionable feedback as he went through Vanta's onboarding which definitely helped us smooth out a couple wrinkles. Thanks so much for that.
Ha glad the feedback made it to the team and was useful!
I think it is not just established companies. I have recently seen smaller companies invest into onboarding experiences too as it is key in activation. Your challenge will always lie there, you are not just competing with Appcues of the world but also devs. When Appcue came to market, cool onboarding like this was not commoditized, now it is. As much as it is looks nice, you have an uphill battle with devs trying to build it themselves.
100%. Building from scratch, or "doing nothing," is probably the biggest competitor we're up against.
Congratulations on the launch. The website looks great, and the product seems well thought.
But I do wonder, what is the plan to achieve VC type returns. The market seems fairly small, and not particularly growing. I would think this is a great indie, profitable business but have a difficult time imagining how it scale to become a meaningful player in the start-up ecosystem.
Could you please offer me some insights?
But I do wonder, what is the plan to achieve VC type returns. The market seems fairly small, and not particularly growing. I would think this is a great indie, profitable business but have a difficult time imagining how it scale to become a meaningful player in the start-up ecosystem.
Could you please offer me some insights?
Suspect "frig" might not be a word in the US. It is in the UK...
Congrats on the launch! As an early Frigade customer we've been super impressed by what the team has built and their attention to detail in helping us implement it in Replo. Amazing work here!
Love it. Think this idea can improve onboarding experiences broadly.
Congrats on launching! This looks really cool.
Any plans for i18n?
We support i18n through dynamic variables. In short, you can define your flow in Frigade and instead of hardcoding strings in one language, you can simply pass in a variables from your codebase.
Do you use any i18n platform? We're thinking of perhaps creating some integrations.
Do you use any i18n platform? We're thinking of perhaps creating some integrations.
We use Rails's built-in i18n. So this should work, as we could just send in the translated strings.
Why do I need to sign in to read your docs? What's on the main page seems nice but before I can refer to my PM or others I want more info, without signing up to anything.
I get that. Our customers to date have been mostly white glove onboarding (read: pinging us Slack to understand how it works). We're investing more in the docs as YC wraps up and will include those with our self-serve onboarding soon!
The product looks super interesting, but it's hard to know if it's worth exploring without any knowing anything about pricing?
Yeah we can do better on pricing. We're considering models based on usage (e.g. total MAUs or Flows) or on seats (total devs, PM, PMM, etc). Which would you prefer?
If you go seats. Please have an seat management+billing and view only role not count towards seats. Team members need to manage the tool’s access but don’t use the features.
MAUs make sense. Enterprise want a linear spend with volume based discounts and rollover credits.
MAUs make sense. Enterprise want a linear spend with volume based discounts and rollover credits.
I think for seats, Figma does a best-in-class job with viewers and management. Do you agree?
Congratulations on the launch Christian and Eric! As an early adopter of Frigade and coming from having worked on trying to implement in-house onboarding solutions before, I can say that Frigades SDK and dashboard makes developing product onboarding much simpler and smoother, very impressive stuff. Keep it up guys!
> Established software companies such as LinkedIn, Uber, Vanta, and many others invest in internal developer platforms to give their team unfair advantages
Congrats on the launch and for giving non-established companies a way to do onboarding! I think saying "unfair" is too strong of a claim here though.
Congrats on the launch and for giving non-established companies a way to do onboarding! I think saying "unfair" is too strong of a claim here though.
congrats on the launch! so easy a vc can use it :)
Are you able to share the main differences between yourselves and Userflow (https://userflow.com/)? Watching the video looked pretty similar.
If there's one main point, I think it's this from their website: "Userflow works as a layer on top of your app, containing tooltips, modals, buttons and more."
We don't "sit on top of your app." We're built into your actual app natively which makes it easier to build for both quality and any custom functionality you need.
We don't "sit on top of your app." We're built into your actual app natively which makes it easier to build for both quality and any custom functionality you need.
We're taking the same developer-centric approach to onboarding at Dopt and this really is fundamentally different than the existing tools (Userflow, Pendo, Appcues, etc...).
I wrote up some longer thoughts on why their approach breaks down https://blog.dopt.com/dopt-vs-other-tools
I wrote up some longer thoughts on why their approach breaks down https://blog.dopt.com/dopt-vs-other-tools
Onboarding is a critical first experience for software products. It makes a big difference for customer activation and retention. However, onboarding experiences often do not get the attention they deserve because, without good tooling, they’re a pain to build. At a previous startup, Christian and I were surprised at how hard it was to get right. It took a ton of time that would otherwise have gone to our core product. We also knew that much better tooling was possible because we had experienced it in the internal tooling at LinkedIn, where we worked at a previous job.
Established software companies such as LinkedIn, Uber, Vanta, and many others invest in internal developer platforms to give their teams advantages like the ability to quickly build great onboarding experiences. But these platforms only get built at scale. With Frigade, our goal is to develop the platform that every growth engineering team would love to have, but can’t afford to build themselves.
There are no-code tools for onboarding (e.g. Pendo, Appcues, Intercom), but they’re rigid and clumsy. They’re built for marketers and managers rather than developers, so they sit on top of your product instead of feeling native. They’re not defined in your codebase, frequently break without teams noticing, and there are limits to what you can build with them. Unlike these tools, Frigade uses native SDKs and provides an API for developers to build new onboardings in code.
How to use Frigade in your product: first install our SDK (React for now); choose a production-ready Frigade UI component or go headless; create a “Frigade Flow” in our admin panel and hook it up to the SDK (Flows are where you set the logic, targeting, content, and more); publish your flow to go live.
Frigade automatically tracks users’ progress through your Flows. Your team can sign in to our admin panel to see which customers have completed what steps or input data, and you can use our API to sync tracking events to your analytics platform, send drip campaign (emails that guide users through setup), or show product reminders (e.g. “Finish connecting your data” banners). Frigade leverages server-driven UI, so once a Flow is live, you can easily update content (e.g. change copy, add another step) and logic (e.g. who should see it and when) in real-time without new code deploys.
We’ve spent most of our time building out the platform with early customers so far, but our self-serve flow is (ironically) coming soon. In the meantime, our demo video gives you the basic picture: https://frigade.com/video/demo.mp4. Please let us know if you’re interested in trying Frigade, we’d love to get your feedback on what we’ve built so far! We work mostly with web-based B2B companies today, and our pricing is competitive with other tools on the market.
What has been your experience with product onboarding? We’d love to hear more about what’s worked well and what’s been a pain in the ass—as well as anything else you’d like to share.