Time to value calculatorHow long new users wait for value.
Count the steps between sign-up and the first real result, and how long each takes. You get your time to value today, at the number of steps you’d like, and the time that gives back across a month of sign-ups.
- Time to value today
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- At your target
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- Saved for each new user
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- Saved across a month’s sign-ups
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At your target steps
– back a month
of your new users’ time, spent on setup instead of value.
How to work out time to value.
Time to value = the time a user first gets a real result − the time they signed up. Measured across users, take the median of those who got there, and track the share who never did beside it.
When you don’t have the events yet, estimate it the way this calculator does: steps × minutes a step + waiting. For example, 12 steps of 4 minutes plus 2 hours waiting for an import is 2 h 48 min. Cut it to 4 steps and it is 2 h 16 min: 32 minutes back for every new user.
Show as a table
| 12 steps (today) | 168 min |
| 8 steps | 152 min |
| 4 steps | 136 min |
| 4 steps, no wait | 16 min |
The last bar is the point: waiting often costs more than the steps. An import that runs while the user carries on, or sample data to start from, can matter more than any form you shorten.
Time to value and activation rate move together: the longer the path, the more people stop on it. Check both after each change to your onboarding.
Fewer steps for the user.
Some steps you can remove. Others your product needs: a project has to be named, working hours set, a teammate invited. Those still take time when a new user has to find each screen first.
Stiro does them for the user. A new user says what they want in their own words, and Stiro does the steps in your product while they watch, then hands back anything that sends, spends or deletes. To the user, a dozen steps become one request. Read more on AI onboarding or watch it set up a schedule in Cal.com.
Time to value questions.
What is time to value?
Time to value is how long a new user takes to get the first real result from your product, measured from sign-up: the first report built, the first booking taken, the first task assigned. The shorter it is, the fewer people give up on the way.
How do you calculate time to value?
For one user, it is the time of their first value moment minus the time they signed up. For your product, take the median across a month’s sign-ups who got there, and track the share who never did alongside it. This calculator estimates it from the steps on the way instead: steps × minutes a step, plus any waiting.
What counts as the value moment?
The first action that shows a user got what they came for, usually the same event you use for activation. Pick one you can measure, and that the users who stay almost all reached early on.
What is a good time to value?
It depends on what your product does. A scheduling page can deliver value in minutes; a data platform that needs an integration may take days. Compare against your own last month, and look for steps you can remove or do for the user.
How do we reduce time to value?
Count the steps between sign-up and the value moment, then remove the ones you can: ask fewer questions at sign-up, start users with sensible defaults or sample data, and help at the exact step where people stall. Waiting time counts too: an import that runs in the background beats one the user has to watch.
Where does Stiro fit?
Stiro is an in-app AI agent: a new user says what they want, such as “set up my first project and invite my team”, and it does the steps in your product while they watch. Their steps become one request. It reads the live screen, so it keeps working as your product changes.
Let your users just ask.
Stiro does the steps in your app for your users. One script tag, 50 runs a month free, no card.