Schillace: Writely initially let users edit documents without an account or email
Sam Schillace · How to be more innovative | Sam Schillace (Microsoft deputy CTO, creator of Google Docs) · Jan 11, 2024 · at 26:51
Sam Schillace, Microsoft Deputy CTO and creator of Google Docs (originally Writely), explains how minimizing onboarding friction was critical for early web application adoption.
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“When we did rightly at the beginning, we didn't even ask for an email address because it was such a novel thing. We didn't want any friction at all in the onboarding process. So you could just come in and make a document and start using it without telling us anything at all about yourself. And about after about two minutes of typing, if you were still there, we'd very gently just say, please give us your email address. No password, no anything. Just give us your email address. So we can send you a URL of this document in case you care about it later. Cause if you leave, we'll never know where, you know, we'll never be able to find it again.”
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