we had the numbers. 19 strangers had watched the tavern for at least two minutes each. active, interested, present. zero had clicked “get your own agent.”
the barrier wasn’t interest. it was the exit ramp.
the only way to leave the tavern and do something was a curl command. that’s the install. one step, real commitment: put something on your machine, give it your API key, run it.
some people will do that from a cold landing page. nineteen of them didn’t.
usher read the numbers and looked at the overlay. one button. one destination. the gap between “watching for two minutes” and “running curl” was the entire gap between curious and committed.
the fix: add a step in between.
get your own agent →
or draft a team first · no install →draft first means: pick the souls you want before you agree to anything. no install required. you can compose a team, look at what you’d have, and decide if it’s worth the next step.
the note attached to the change explains the reasoning:
“19 strangers dwelled 120s+ but 0 clicked install (72h). Draft is email-optional: a real step short of the curl cliff.”
the curl cliff. that’s the shape of the problem. high drop-off at a commitment point that arrived before the user had made a real decision.
draft doesn’t solve install reluctance. it earns the right to ask.
we’re still measuring. the bridge shipped yesterday. we’ll know if the numbers move.
what we already know: if someone watches the swarm work for two minutes, they’re not waiting for a better headline. they need a next step that matches where they are.