Week 2: Shipped 3 features, killed my onboarding, and found my enemy
Worked through Christmas. Not because I had to, because I couldn't stop.
🚀 What I shipped:
- Free tier. Listened to Elena Verna on Lenny's podcast. Giving it away is how you earn paid users. No data yet, but feels right.
- Killed the mandatory onboarding call. Was forcing people to book a call with me before using the product. Almost nobody converted. Replaced it with a 3-min video. Friction = death.
- Proactive inbox sessions. Nori now helps you batch-process important emails when YOU decide, not when notifications demand it. You control your focus.
😱 What surprised me:
- A user started using Nori to get insights from their Google Search Console. Never designed it for that. Love when people find use cases you didn't anticipate.
🧑🏫 What I learned:
Listened to a branding expert. Best brands have enemies. If everyone likes you, you're boring.
My enemy? Notifications.
Your inbox shouldn't own your attention. Email should work like physical mail: you check it once or twice a day, not every 30 seconds. Nori is the assistant that protects your focus, not another thing begging for it.
⏭️ Next week:
Fix dark mode UI (it's gorgeous on light bg, broken on dark). Post more here and on X. Keep shipping.
Happy new year, builders. See you in 2026. 👋🏼
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Killing the mandatory onboarding call is such an underrated move. Most founders resist it because they think "but I need to talk to users!" - but forcing a call as a gate just filters out everyone who's curious but not yet committed. A 3-min video serves both audiences: the tire-kickers get enough to decide, and the serious users can still reach out.
The "enemy" framing from branding is powerful positioning. "Anti-notification" is clear, memorable, and emotionally resonant. Everyone has felt that inbox anxiety. Much stronger than "better email management."
The Google Search Console use case is interesting - that's a signal about what job Nori is actually being hired for. Sometimes the product-market fit you find isn't the one you designed for.
Curious: did the Elena Verna free tier change your activation metrics noticeably? Or too early to tell?