Industry
Headquarters
Baltimore, MD
Founded
2010
Company Size
Key Markets
1M+ users globally
Growth Stage
ARR $8M by 2023
Website
Highlights
Churn reduced from 12% to 4%
Faster time to first working plan
Improved activation into core workflow
Clearer understanding of the planning model
Overview
TeamGantt had strong top-of-funnel interest. Users were signing up — curious and ready to use the product — but many did not stay.
Churn after signup was around 12%, which was high for a product with clear intent and demand. The problem was not acquisition. It was what happened immediately after.
Understanding the Problem
Users were not reaching value. They signed up, entered the product, and stalled before building their first plan.
Onboarding introduced too much too early
Task workflows required too many steps
Users did not understand the planning model
Friction between signup and first meaningful action
The issue was not missing features. It was a lack of clarity in how the system worked.
Strategic approach
The approach was to treat churn as a product problem — not a marketing problem, not a messaging problem.
Simplifying the path to first value
The focus shifted to the moment that mattered most: from signup to first working plan.
Onboarding was redesigned around a single outcome: build a basic timeline. Unnecessary steps were removed. Task creation and scheduling were simplified. Advanced features were delayed until users understood the core model.
The product guided users through doing, not learning.
Principle: Retention improves when users reach value before they encounter complexity.
Key Initiatives
Onboarding redesign around first plan
Users were entering the product without a clear starting point.
What I did
Mapped the journey from signup to first usable plan
Removed non-essential steps from onboarding
Focused the flow on building a basic timeline
What changed
Users reached a working plan faster
Drop off during onboarding decreased
The product felt more immediate and usable
Task workflow simplification
Creating and editing tasks introduced unnecessary friction.
What I did
Reduced the number of steps required to create and schedule tasks
Simplified interaction patterns within the timeline
Aligned workflows with how users naturally plan work
What changed
Users could move faster inside the product
Cognitive load dropped
Planning felt more intuitive
Progressive feature introduction
Advanced features were overwhelming users early.
What I did
Sequenced feature exposure based on user progress
Introduced complexity only after the core workflow was understood
Used interaction to teach the system
What changed
Users adopted features in the right order
Understanding improved
The system felt approachable
Additional improvements
Mapped friction using usage data and customer feedback
Aligned onboarding with real user behavior
Reduced unnecessary decisions early in the experience
Improved feedback during key actions
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Worked closely with product and engineering to tie UX changes to measurable outcomes.
Data informed where friction existed. Design addressed how to remove it. Engineering enabled rapid iteration and validation.
The focus was not redesign — it was impact.
Financial Impact & Business Enablement
This work changed how users experienced the product in the first minutes.
Instead of encountering friction, they experienced progress. Instead of confusion, they built something real.
Churn reduced from 12% to 4%
Increased activation into core workflow
Improved early retention and product adoption
Stronger conversion from signup to active usage
Takeaway
Churn is often a clarity problem. When users understand how a product works, they stay.
Role
Head of Product Design and Design Systems
Led UX strategy and onboarding redesign. Identified workflow friction, simplified core interactions, and partnered with product and engineering to reduce churn and improve activation.
Related Case Studies
Reducing onboarding friction by restructuring how users reach first value.
Making dependency behavior predictable in a visual planning system.
Scaling a product with limited design resources by building systems, not screens.
Lowering early drop off by restructuring how users reach first value.
Keep the product focused on the planning model, not expanding features.
Making product decisions that preserve control and predictability.
Designing scheduling behavior that feels powerful without becoming unpredictable.
Using direct observation to guide product decisions when analytics are incomplete.
Turning design from a service into a system tied to delivery outcomes.
Driving adoption and executive buy-in through phased, measurable impact.
Turning design into a decision driver by making its impact visible.
Turning fragmented research into a system that guides product decisions.