We ungated our product (no signup)–is it a good idea?
Users within our ICP were dropping off during or right after the signup process, never reaching that crucial “aha moment” where they truly see the value in our product. Typically, this moment happens when they’ve created an interactive demo they’re happy with. We were like... "let's just do it". So, we decided to ungate our product—removing the signup step entirely at this stage of the user journey. Of course, users can still sign up if they want to continue using the product, but our aim was to reduce friction and align with the supposed future of product-led growth, where ungated…
In plain words
This is a case study about removing signup requirements from an interactive demo product to reduce user friction. The makers observed that target users were dropping off before experiencing the product's value—the "aha moment" of creating a demo they're satisfied with. By ungating access, they aimed to let users reach that realization before committing to an account. While the change increased usage spikes, results remain mixed, with some users creating low-quality demos, suggesting the approach requires refinement.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Users within our ICP were dropping off during or right after the signup process, never reaching that crucial “aha moment” where they truly see the value in our product. Typically, this moment happens when they’ve created an interactive demo they’re happy with. We were like... "let's just do it". So, we decided to ungate our product—removing the signup step entirely at this stage of the user journey. Of course, users can still sign up if they want to continue using the product, but our aim was to reduce friction and align with the supposed future of product-led growth, where ungated experiences help users quickly grasp a product’s value. We’re tracking key metrics—like increased engagement, faster time-to-value, and created demos—but it’s still early days, and the results are mixed. We’ve seen spikes in usage, but also some users creating “meaningless” demos, likely due to being overwhelmed by too many options. I’m eager for your thoughts: - What do you think of this specific ungated experience? - Were you able to create your first interactive demo? - Any other ungated product you really like, and why? Open to any feedback or discussions!
More growth this month
the category →
AstraPixels▲267A pixel-art solar system at its real current positions.
Growth · 29d ago · astrapixels.com
Launched alongside, August 2024
the whole month →
- IY
Life & fun · 2024 · ytch.xyz
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Hey there HN! We’re Joe and Stopa, and today we’re open sourcing InstantDB, a client-side database that makes it easy to build real-time and collaborative apps like Notion and Figma. Building modern apps these days involves a lot of schleps. For a basic CRUD app you need to spin up servers, wire up endpoints, integrate auth, add permissions, and then marshal data from the backend to the frontend and back again. If you want to deliver a buttery smooth user experience, you’ll need to add optimistic updates and rollbacks. We do these steps over and over for every feature we build, which can…
Dev tools · 2024 · github.com