The Devil's In the Default.

“The devil’s in the default.” -Dave Morin.

I recently started a new position at Flatfile as Head of Growth Design. As I called my grandma, celebrated with my friends, and met my new colleagues, I found myself fumbling over how to explain what I have been hired to do and more importantly, why it matters. When my words fail me, I like to write. So here I am. :)

Flatfile is a wildly successful startup story, having already acquired a ton of users. Their current users will land and expand over time yes; however, the most effective way to scale is still through acquiring new users.

The thing is, new users are always changing - the product is evolving while the profile of an ideal customer’s needs, wants, and desires are in motion at the same time.?

This eludes:?

• The users we have today may not be the same users we acquire next year, or even next month.
• Marketing ourselves solely based on what we learn about our current customers is probably not sufficient.
• Iterating on the product simply from what our current users are saying could potentially fall short.

Most importantly, this means: though we have a lot of users and most are super happy, we can’t let off the gas.

Enter “The First Mile” & Growth Design.

At Flatfile, the product is the main driver of acquisition and retention. This is uniformly known as being a product led company.?

In the Product-Led Growth model, a not insignificant amount of work is necessary to enable a Lead to have their first contact directly in the product. Intentional, focused, methodical thought and execution has to be put into this very idea for it to work.

When the Product is first, you lose the human conversation initially, an important piece for filling in the blanks that us humans with a conscience and intelligence can do on the fly for our customers. Once that’s gone, you have to somehow recreate that in a virtual, asynchronous experience through repeatable conversations that can appeal to the masses but also be specific enough to resonate.?

It’s no small task. But when you put in the work - iterating tirelessly until you crack the code, everyone in the business benefits.

Our initial training sessions are more compelling, informative, and value-focused and less “Now, click here”. Our Qualified Leads are more promising for the Sales team. The list goes on and on.

My Place.

New users are there to see if you can really do what you told them. They’re there to see if you can make them look like a hero to their boss. The cynic in them (the vast amount of software out there falls short) means you have a very small amount of time to prove it.

In my new role at Flatfile, I will obsess over a Product-Led Growth Go-To-market strategy with an acute focus on the first mile of the customer’s experience.

To be more literal, I’m referring to the welcome tour, the in-app guides, the in-app product marketing, the empty states, the defaults, the automation behind the scenes, the “Hey nice work, now here’s what’s next”.

All are mission critical to an incredible user experience during the first mile.?

Though often an afterthought, the first mile is an important priority at all stages of a product’s maturity. After all, the customer journey is a living, breathing, evolving experience that is chock full of levers to pull for growth.

And with product-led growth specifically, what you can unlock is utterly massive.

I’m pretty excited for the opportunity to design a growth machine alongside all of my insanely talented teammates at Flatfile. Questions? Concerns? Shoot it to me straight. I'm going to need help seeing around all the corners.

Let’s do this. <3

www.flatfile.com