Mastery in Slack is about customization and deepening the user experience over time, not just reaching a destination.

Improving the first user experience and onboarding process is often overlooked but can greatly enhance user retention.

At Stripe, we have a program called 'Essential Journeys' where we identify the top 17 user flows that are crucial for our users, and team members review and score these experiences quarterly to ensure they remain effective.

For products that require user involvement, effective onboarding is critical to retain users and enhance their experience.

Gating product usage behind onboarding tasks can lead to higher retention, as it ensures that only committed users proceed, thus increasing the likelihood of their long-term engagement.

A culture of using the product as a user would, including all team members, is essential for understanding the user journey and improving the product.

Onboarding is crucial; the first experience users have with your product should quickly demonstrate its value to encourage continued use.

It's crucial to identify problems that users face multiple times a day, as this increases engagement and the likelihood of product adoption. Examples include platforms like Facebook and Slack, which users interact with frequently.

In the startup journey, you're constantly on a treadmill, needing to improve daily while managing new challenges.