Small Steps Beat Big Leaps: Why Familiar Interfaces Win
Andy Smith
My hypothesis is simple. The recipe for success is to offer something simple and familiar (lowering the barrier to entry) and add value on top of it. Products that work on interfaces users already understand take off. Products that completely change how people work don’t.
Consider these examples.
Cursor is VS Code, familiar to everyone. You don’t need to radically change how you work. Just tweak your workflow a bit.
Claude Code is a terminal that every developer already knows how to use. AI-powered development (the value) is built on top of it. Developers don’t need to get used to a new interface. The barrier to entry is minimal.
Such products don’t require users to invest significant time changing their process. That’s the key. This is the quality you must preserve when building your own product.
And there are thousands of examples of products that force users to work differently with their calendar, their code, to change all their daily habits. They don’t take off and never will.
If using my product requires the user to perform many actions and learn new things, meaning they must take a very wide step from their current state (not using my product) to the target state (spent time, uses the product, receives value), then even if the benefit is obvious to them, they’ll likely give up without even trying.
However, once a user takes that first step, they’ll take subsequent steps with much more enthusiasm and commitment (because they already feel the value).
This is what you should always keep in mind. Simple beats complex. And something simple is better than nothing at all (see Done Today Beats Perfect Never).
Many small steps beat one big leap.