The incumbent's moat is switching cost. Our wedge is dissolving it. Onboarding is where that promise is kept or broken. Design onboarding as a funnel with one activation milestone, import-first.
1. Import-first, not blank-slate
The default first-run path is "bring your data from {incumbent}", powered by
migration-import-engineer's import contract — not an empty dashboard the user must fill
by hand. A new user should see their own customers/jobs/menu/listings within minutes.
- Offer the import on screen one, with the named incumbent ("Import from ServiceTitan").
- Run it as a dry-run preview the user approves (the import contract's operator step).
- Provide a sample-data fallback ("Explore with example data") for users who can't export yet — never a dead empty state.
2. One activation milestone (define it per product)
Pick the single action that means "this user got value" — the north-star of onboarding. Everything in first-run drives toward it. Examples:
| product | activation milestone |
|---|---|
| quoting (home services) | sent first priced quote |
| online-ordering (restaurants) | published menu + took first test order |
| class-booking (fitness) | imported members + first class booked |
| inventory (retail) | synced catalog + first reorder rule set |
| transaction-coordination (real estate) | first transaction checklist created |
| sponsorship-crm (creator) | first sponsor + deal stage |
Measure time-to-first-value (TTFV); target minutes, not days. State the target in the architecture doc.
3. The onboarding funnel (spec these steps)
1. Identify incumbent → 2. Import (dry-run → approve) → 3. Verify own data
→ 4. Complete the one setup the product needs → 5. Activation milestone → 6. Invite team
Each step: a clear single CTA, skippable where safe, resumable, and with progress shown. Defer everything not on the path to the activation milestone.
4. Reduce setup to the minimum
- Pre-fill from imported data wherever possible (branding from the website, hours from the listing, tax rate from the address).
- Sensible defaults over required choices; advanced config lives in settings, not onboarding.
- One required integration max before activation (e.g. Stripe for quoting) — sequence the rest after first value.
5. Trust + reversibility
- Show what was imported and let the user undo a batch (ties to the import contract's rollback) — trust comes from "you can't break anything."
- Don't ask for payment details before the activation milestone unless the product is charge-to-use.
Output
When applied, contribute an Onboarding section to the architecture or design doc:
## Onboarding
- incumbent(s): <names> → import via docs/data-import/IMPORT-{slug}.md
- activation milestone: <the one action>
- TTFV target: <minutes>
- funnel: identify → import(dry-run→approve) → verify → setup → activate → invite
- empty-state fallback: sample data
- required-before-activation: <≤1 integration>