FocusForge. Two weeks live, 18 installs, 0 signups. Here's what I'm learning.
Two weeks since FocusForge launched as product two of the HelixLabs ecosystem. Here's the honest picture.'
18 installs from organic Chrome Store search. 0 signups. 0 revenue. Prompt Helix sits at 103 total installs, 1 weekly active user, also £0 revenue.
The pattern is identical to Prompt Helix's early days where people install and don't create accounts. Which tells me the onboarding experience isn't creating enough urgency to sign up before people get value from the free tier.
The irony is that FocusForge's free tier is genuinely useful on its own. Time tracking, site blocking, grayscale mode, daily reports. all free, no account needed. Which means people install it, get value, and have zero reason to create an account or upgrade.
Sound familiar? It's the exact same mistake I made with Prompt Helix before v1.0.2.
The fix for Prompt Helix was a 25 query daily limit that creates a natural upgrade trigger. FocusForge has the AI coaching and Nuclear Option locked behind Essential at £7/month. But the free tier is still too complete how someone could use it indefinitely without ever feeling the need to upgrade.
What I'm thinking about now is that the problem the free tier being too generous, or is it that people aren't using it enough to hit any wall at all? If someone installs FocusForge and opens it twice then forgets it exists, no conversion trigger matters.
The return behaviour problem is something several founders on my last post flagged. The daily limit only works if they come back to hit it.
Current thinking is I need a re-engagement mechanism. Something that brings people back to the extension in the first 48 hours before they forget it exists. An onboarding sequence, a daily nudge, something.
Still figuring it out. Would love to hear from anyone who's solved the day 1 to day 7 retention problem for Chrome extensions specifically.
Chrome Store: chromewebstore.google.com/detail/focusforge/hdkabchfflgnnonnhffkcmhgbenfoaci
helixlabs.studio
FocusForge is clear, but it still sounds like a Chrome extension, not a serious productivity system.
That matters if you want people to create an account and come back daily.
Right now the product gives utility before identity.
Users install it, use the free layer, and mentally file it as “a blocker.”
The bigger opportunity is to make it feel like a personal execution system, not a browser tool.
Xevoa.com would fit that direction better if you expand beyond blocking into AI coaching, daily discipline, and behavior loops. Cleaner, broader, and more durable than FocusForge.