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Epstein: Assume Visitors Skip Subheadlines Unless Headlines Intrigue Them

Aaron Epstein · Cursor Head of Design Roasts Startup Websites · Y Combinator · Nov 20, 2025 · at 13:06

Aaron Epstein and Cursor Head of Design Rio Lu discuss user browsing behavior and web hierarchy on Y Combinator's Design Review.

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“What most people do is they come down and they're going to read the headlines. They're going to say, okay, what our customers say, compliance, investors, choose your plan. Like you got to be explicit and assume people are not going to read the subheadline. They're only going to read the subheadline if they're intrigued by the headline.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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