Onboarding

The process of getting a new customer or a new employee productive.

Example

A customer reaching their first published rota within a day of signing.

For customers, onboarding is where most churn is actually decided. For employees, a bad first week costs months of output.

Activation — The moment a new user first experiences the product's core value.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) — A written, repeatable description of how a recurring task is done.
Retention — The share of customers still active after a given period. The inverse of churn, and usually the more useful way round.

Defining the role — Write what success looks like in twelve months before you write the job advert. Most bad hires start here. (12 min)
Running a fair hiring process — Same questions, work samples over CVs, and a decision made against the definition rather than against a feeling. (12 min)
Onboarding someone properly — The first two weeks decide whether a good hire becomes a good employee. Most startups improvise this and lose months. (10 min)
Hiring across borders — Contractors, employers of record and local entities. Three ways to employ someone abroad, with different costs and risks. (12 min)
Activation and retention — The two numbers that predict whether a company works. Acquisition can be bought; these cannot. (12 min)
SOPs — writing down how things are done — Write it the second time you do something, not the twentieth. It is also the only way to delegate without re-explaining. (10 min)