Users experience value in seconds or minutes — e.g., a calculator, translation tool, or grammar checker. The product delivers value before any setup.
Users experience value within minutes to hours — e.g., Slack (send a message), Loom (record a video), Canva (design something). PLG products optimize aggressively for this.
Users need days to weeks before experiencing value — e.g., CRM (need data), analytics (need traffic), BI tools (need data warehouse). These products invest heavily in onboarding support.
Every field, integration, or configuration step that isn't strictly necessary to reach first value increases TTV. Audit your signup flow and remove everything that can be deferred to after the aha moment.
Empty products are confusing. A CRM with sample contacts, a kanban with demo cards, a design tool with template layouts — sample data shows users what the product looks like when it's working, dramatically reducing TTV.
The fastest path to reducing TTV is an interactive product tour that takes users step-by-step to their first value moment. Guidez AI generates these tours in minutes from a plain-English description.
Sometimes the aha moment is too complex or requires too many steps. Challenge whether the aha moment can be simplified or made more immediate. Loom moved from "record and share" to just "record" — and TTV dropped 60%.