fifteen ways to get started.

working animated slide previews. use each preview’s buttons to move through the idea.

saved onboarding
01 · codex 01

cc carries the thread

why this idea?

the current flow asks for useful inputs, but the emotional link between 'give us a little context' and 'we can help you move' is still mostly copy. this concept makes the value visible without adding more questions. cc becomes a small guide that shows progress, reduces the cold-form feeling, and makes the crew-first path feel connected to the plan being built in the background.

this is more expressive than the current two-button opener, so it needs careful timing and a reduced-motion fallback. the upside is that it explains the product bridge with motion instead of more prose, and it does not ask for any extra data.

02 · codex 02

the tiny next-step bench

why this idea?

job seekers do not need a mascot cheering at them. they need the first step to feel small enough to start. this concept uses cc as a steady helper who makes the work visible, then gets out of the way. the tone is warm, but the promise stays grounded: the app can build a plan and collect crew preferences, not guarantee a match or a job.

this adds a little more character before intake, so it should be capped at three short slides and never block the main call to action. it works best when the carousel remembers progress or lets repeat visitors go straight through.

03 · codex 03

from pile to first move

why this idea?

the strongest promise in the current flow is practical relief: bring us where you are, and we will give you a plan you can act on. this concept makes that felt in ten seconds. cc does not explain the whole product. cc sorts one small mess, reveals one useful fix, then shows that crew matching uses the same real context if the user wants it.

this adds motion and copy before the form, so it must stay fast and skippable. the benefit is that the user experiences the product's value before entering personal data. the risk is that too much slide chrome could feel like a tour, so the cta should stay fixed and the dots should be quiet.

04 · codex 04

cc draws the pocket map

why this idea?

the current opening is friendly, but the form still asks for trust before the user can feel what happens next. this concept gives that trust a small shape. cc does not promise a job, an instant mentor, or a perfect match. cc simply marks where the person is, where they want to go, and who might help them keep moving.

this needs one new micro-scene and careful aria-live copy, so it is not as cheap as changing text. the gain is that the opening feels alive and inclusive while still sending people to the same short form. the main risk is motion feeling decorative, so every motion beat must explain one input or one routing choice.

05 · codex 05

cc tunes the signal

why this idea?

the current opener asks the user to choose between crew and game plan before they have felt the shared reason behind both. this concept makes that reason visible. cc is not cheering from the sidelines. cc is tuning a small signal board so the search points somewhere specific. the mood is calm and practical: less noise, one clearer next move, and the option to bring peers in after the plan has context.

this asks for a little more motion craft than the current route picker. the win is that the first screen gives a reason for the data ask before the form appears. the risk is overexplaining, so the copy should stay short and the signal board should be a few pixel lines, not a dashboard.

06 · fable 01

a plan you can check off

why this idea?

the intake asks for a linkedin, an email, and a job before showing anything. this shows the shape of what comes back: numbered steps with times, a strengths card first, and a meter that fills. someone continues because they can picture finishing.

adds up to two taps before intake for people who skip nothing. block labels are hardcoded from the flow spec and will drift if plan steps change, so they should read from one shared list. the strengths step depends on a readable profile, which the fail-safe and no-resume paths may not have. copy says 'what you already do well', not a guaranteed strengths count.

07 · fable 02

cc goes first

why this idea?

hesitation comes from not knowing the price of the first tap. seeing the minimum input, the destination of the data, and the exit before typing anything makes starting feel reversible, so the person taps the field instead of closing the tab.

slide one promises a 'few quick answers' route that only exists in the spec. either ship screen 1Q first or cut that line and show two tiles. the cards add one to three taps before intake for people who were never hesitant, so the skip link and the one-time rule matter. the data claims must stay limited to the existing trust line wording.

08 · fable 03

take the note with you

why this idea?

they leave the screen with something they can send today, so the plan stops being a promise and becomes the rest of a thing they already started using.

needs a fixed default version of the outreach note that works without a plan. if the note is generated per candidate today, someone has to write and own the static one. the copy step also gives people an easy exit, which is the point of the lens, so this should ship with a count of copy taps versus intake starts to see whether it earns its place.

09 · fable 04

you get the plan either way

why this idea?

the two buttons look like a fork where you lose the other side. showing that the plan card stays in both hands lowers the stakes, and the short preview of real structure (numbered steps, four crew questions) tells people exactly what they get before they type anything.

needs new pixel art (card, flip, row reveals) and a pressed/focus preview that has to degrade to plain idle on touch and with reduced motion. the crew slide's 'plan comes too' line depends on the crew-first flow keeping its background plan build; if that changes, the copy must change with it.

10 · fable 05

what you bring, cc carries

why this idea?

people quit intake when it feels like a form for someone else's benefit. here every field visibly becomes something cc is holding for you, and the progress screen shows that exact thing being used. you continue because the work is already yours and already moving.

three small pixel sprites on the same 16x14 grid need drawing and review with the dearcc brand owner. intake must lift 'field filled' booleans to the shell so the scene can react, a modest refactor. the progress screen animation must never imply the analysis is stuck because of a blank job. risk is low if the sprites are cut and cc simply runs.

11 · fable 06

the search bar

why this idea?

the plan's first real ask is 30 minutes on linkedin. people skip it because they don't see why a headline matters. seeing a search sweep miss the chinchilla, then find it after one word changes, turns a chore into an obvious move.

only true when linkedin was read and the headline is the fix the analysis picked. if the first fix is something else, the slides mislead, so the analysis must expose a headline-fix flag and the slides must stay hidden otherwise. costs one extra tap-through before the plan.

12 · fable 07

what the chinchilla carries

why this idea?

people stall at the intake form because they don't know what it costs them or what they get. seeing the three real inputs and the real shape of the plan before the form makes the ask feel small and the return concrete. the chinchilla doing the carrying makes it memorable without promising anything the app can't deliver.

adds up to three taps before the form for people who already know what they want, so skip must be visible on every slide. slide 3's two buttons need the fork wired into intake's failsafe prop. slide 2's role-swipe preview references screen 1s, which is spec'd but not yet built, so the copy should say 'show a few' rather than promise a swipe deck.

13 · fable 08

cc asks first

why this idea?

you keep going because every answer is visibly reused. the job you type shows up in the intake field, and how long you've been searching shows up in the crew form. nothing is asked twice, and cc plainly tells you what it will do with each answer.

today only the role prefill travels by link. passing search length into the crew form needs a new query param or session storage, and the crew form should show it as already selected rather than silently set. the echo slide must only repeat what the person typed, never add inference. adds two taps for people who would have chosen a path immediately, so the skip link has to stay visible.

14 · fable 09

step one is just reading

why this idea?

the plan already hands out a free first check: step one is your strengths and you complete it by tapping got it. showing that before intake turns 'paste a link' into 'start a list you can actually finish' without promising anything the product does not do.

adds up to two taps on the gameplan path for anyone who opens the peek. the crew path gets no equivalent, which is fine but uneven. worth measuring how many people open the peek versus tap straight through, and whether they finish intake at a higher rate. needs one new pixel glyph for the cell and a text link style on the onboarding screen.

15 · fable 10

read the job first

why this idea?

most onboarding asks for identity, then promises value. this gives value first. a person pastes one posting, watches cc pull out what the company actually asks for, and only then gets asked where they are today. the ask for linkedin and email now has a visible reason: match these against me.

needs a job-analysis endpoint that runs before a candidate record exists, with rate limits for anonymous calls. people with no job in mind skip slide 2 and go to the existing role quiz, so the flow has two shapes. drop-off could move rather than shrink: some people bounce at the job field instead of the email field. measure against the current intake before replacing it.