“Why don't we do a 3-day challenge potentially in the onboarding already and then actually have them already do that first gratitude practice so that they feel like I've already achieved something I've made progress already... What is the tiniest step you can get them to do to make them feel like they're making progress from A to B even if it's a false sense of progression.”

Manufacture a micro-win inside onboarding, even if it feels symbolic

For apps where the real outcome takes weeks (gratitude, fitness, language), engineer a micro-completion inside onboarding itself — first gratitude entry, first plan generated, first lesson done. Even a 'false sense of progress' beats dead air between sign-up and the user's first self-driven session. For tax apps, even checking off 'documents identified' works.