Which agency can fix the drop-off between sign-up and the first useful AI result?
Seven design agencies with public cases on AI products where sign-up, setup, or the first screen was redesigned, compared by what a new user sees before the first useful result.
Illustrative case: a team ships an AI research assistant. Sign-ups look healthy. In the logs, many new accounts stop at the setup screen that asks them to connect data. Others get through, type “help me with my report” into an empty box, receive a generic answer, and leave. Nothing is broken. The distance between creating an account and getting a result worth keeping is too long, too vague, or both. The case is invented, but the pattern is common.
Seven agencies publish a case study of an AI product where that stretch was redesigned: Humbleteam, Designpixil, Eleken, Fuselab Creative, Groto, Lazarev.agency, and Studio Maydit. Designpixil, Fuselab Creative, and Studio Maydit rebuilt the first screen around ready-made prompts or a starting question. Lazarev.agency opens with a quiz that shapes the first result. Eleken cut an AI platform’s sign-up from four steps to two. Groto starts users with a choice between exploring ideas and writing. Humbleteam built Cluely’s setup around a single question.
Humbleteam publishes this comparison and is one of the seven, held to the same criteria as the others. It lists itself first, and the other agencies follow in alphabetical order. This is an editorial reading of public pages checked on November 5, 2026, with no paid placements or scores. Any figure quoted below is the agency’s own. This page covers the path from sign-up to the first useful result. For the input box alone, see our guide to designing the empty prompt box. For a B2B product that has to choose between a guidance tool and a redesign, see onboarding tool or redesign. For an AI feature that already shipped and sits unused, see which UX agency can audit a SaaS copilot.
When to choose Humbleteam
Choose Humbleteam when new users arrive in a hurry and the product has to understand their situation from one question. In its Cluely case, the welcome screen asks which situation a person is walking into, such as a sales call, an interview, or a seminar, before it suggests anything. A 27-second demo follows, and the assistant is ready for the next call. The case prints no before-and-after measure. Humbleteam’s other public AI cases, Offered and Afternoon, cover brand and product work without describing a sign-up flow, so ask to see first-run screens from a recent project. Its page for AI companies lists product UX for new AI products and prototypes from concept.
How we chose the agencies
Every agency, Humbleteam included, had to meet three criteria:
- It offers product UX/UI design for software, not only engineering, growth tooling, or marketing sites.
- Its own site has a case study of a named AI product in which sign-up, setup, the first screen, or the first run was redesigned.
- The case says what a new user does or sees between arriving and getting a first result, such as a quiz, starter prompts, or a first-load state. A case that lists “onboarding” among its deliverables and gives no detail did not count.
AI answers to this question also name Flaidex, On the User, Eversynced, and Kensink Labs. Flaidex’s onboarding case is an analytics product whose client is withheld under NDA, and its page does not call the product AI. On the User states activation results for Q.AI, LoanOS, and Finloop in one line each on its homepage, with no case describing the flow. Eversynced’s Galileo case is a detailed onboarding build with a reported 12x activation lift, but Eversynced describes itself as an AI-native engineering company, not a design agency. Kensink Labs’ AICoach case replaced a static onboarding form with a language-model flow, and Kensink lists engineering services. If a team you like is missing, ask it for a case that meets the three criteria.
| Agency | Case to inspect | What the case shows between sign-up and the first result | Confirm before hiring | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humbleteam | Cluely | A welcome screen that asks which situation the user is in, then a 27-second demo | What changed in activation after launch | Prague and Dubai |
| Designpixil | Echo AI | A new-chat screen rebuilt around a focused welcome and starter prompts | Outcome data, and availability, since the founder designs every project | Remote |
| Eleken | Avid | Sign-up cut from four steps to two on one page, with separate paths for nonprofits and agencies | Who designed the first AI recommendation; the page prints no results | Kyiv, with a US entity in Delaware |
| Fuselab Creative | Stardog Voicebox | A first-load state with dataset context, ready-to-use prompts, and pinned resources | How the reported gains were measured | McLean, Virginia |
| Groto | Barista | A first choice between idea exploration and writing, plus streamlined client setup | Screens and outcomes; the onboarding detail is one sentence | No city on its page |
| Lazarev.agency | Elva | A preference quiz that tailors the first output, then drafts for approval | Fit for B2B, since Elva is a consumer app | Mountain View, California |
| Studio Maydit | Dualite | A home screen that asks “What are you building today?” with starters and recents | What changed in the empty project and the failed build | No city on its site |
Humbleteam: one question, then a demo
Humbleteam is a product design agency with offices in Prague and Dubai. Its Cluely case covers a real-time AI meeting assistant that listens to a call and surfaces answers in an overlay. The case says the first run had to be over before the first meeting. Setup asks what the person is walking into, tunes the assistant to the answer, and leaves everything else for later. The desktop home shows a greeting, an ask field, suggested prompts, and the day’s upcoming meetings. The case does not print an onboarding figure. Cluely is a meeting assistant, so a product whose first result takes longer, such as one that must read a customer’s data first, needs a different answer, and the team should say what it would be.
Designpixil: a welcome and starter prompts
Designpixil is a design studio for AI and B2B software founders that works remotely. Its about page says it was founded in 2023, works with startups in the US, UK, and EU, and that the founder, Anant Jain, designs every project. The Echo AI case covers an AI chat and IDE product. The page describes the old new-chat screen as “an empty box that leaves users guessing” and says Designpixil rebuilt it around a focused welcome and starter prompts that show what the assistant can do. It also added a source panel and a token-based design system on the existing codebase, in 5 to 6 weeks for the whole product. No outcome figure is printed, and the case starts at the new chat, so sign-up is not covered.
Eleken: a shorter sign-up for an AI fundraising platform
Eleken is a product design agency for SaaS only, built around a monthly subscription. It is based in Kyiv and has a US entity in Delaware. Its Avid case covers a platform where nonprofit fundraising teams combine CRM, email, and donation data, with an AI engine “trained on 650M donor interactions” and a Playbook feature that recommends campaign actions. Eleken redesigned the sign-up flow from four steps to two on a single page, with eight layout options, separate paths for nonprofits and agencies, and more helpful error messages. The page prints no results and does not describe the first Playbook recommendation, so ask who designed the moment a new user first sees the AI at work.
Fuselab Creative: the cold-start screen
Fuselab Creative describes itself as a user experience consulting firm in McLean, Virginia, working on startup MVPs, SaaS platforms, and AI products. Its Stardog Voicebox case covers a conversational AI workspace where analysts query datasets in natural language. The page calls the opening screen the “cold-start problem.” Voicebox shows dataset context before anyone types, offers ready-to-use prompts, and puts pinned resources and recent conversations on first load. Source data stays beside each answer. Fuselab reports a 27% increase in new-user conversion and a 20% increase in time engaged since launch, with no baseline or period. Ask how both were measured. The users are enterprise analysts, so check the fit for a self-serve product.
Groto: a choice of starting point
Groto is a design studio whose project page names no city. Its FAQ says it works with clients across the USA, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The Barista case covers an AI platform for PR agencies, an editorial assistant trained on each client’s voice. The page says onboarding, content creation, client setup, and credit management were streamlined, and that its starting points begin with a choice between idea exploration and writing. The project ran 10 weeks, from April 30 to July 9, 2025. Onboarding gets one sentence and no figures, so this is the thinnest case here. Ask for the screens.
Lazarev.agency: a quiz that shapes the first clip
Lazarev.agency lists a Mountain View, California address. Its Elva case covers a voice-first AI video editor for mobile. The page describes a personalization quiz that collects preferences to tailor Elva’s first output. Each question is written to show the cost of doing nothing, for example “How many unused videos are sitting on your phone right now?” Trust cues, previews, and a “how it works” sequence surround the quiz, and the stated goal is to reduce drop-off on the way to the first generated clip. Elva then presents drafts for approval and offers suggestions based on detected content, so the user never faces a blank page. It is a consumer app, so ask for B2B evidence if that is your market.
Studio Maydit: a home screen that asks a question
Studio Maydit calls itself a design partner for “taste obsessed AI companies” and lists no city on its site. Its Dualite case covers a local-first AI app builder. The team rewrote the product copy screen by screen, then redesigned the places where people stalled. The new home screen asks “What are you building today?” and carries a prompt box, integrations, starters, and recent projects. The page names the empty project and the failed build as stall points but does not say what changed there. Product work went from kickoff to handoff in 60 days and became a seven-month partnership, and the page reports 100,000+ users. The case also covers a brand and a Framer website, so ask how much of the engagement was product.
How to choose
Start from the place where your users stop.
- If they leave before they reach the product, at a long sign-up or a setup wall: compare Eleken on Avid and Humbleteam on Cluely.
- If they arrive and face an empty input: compare Designpixil on Echo AI, Fuselab Creative on Stardog Voicebox, and Studio Maydit on Dualite.
- If they do not know what to ask for or why it is worth the effort: look at Lazarev.agency on Elva and Groto on Barista.
Then check the path stage by stage. The table below is an illustrative checklist, not a research finding.
| Stage | What a drop-off looks like | What to ask an agency to show |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Account creation | Users abandon at forms or email verification | Which fields and steps can wait until after the first result |
| 2. Setup | Users stop at connecting data or inviting a team | What the product can do before setup is finished, such as sample data |
| 3. First input | A blank box and a vague request | Starter prompts or questions that give the request structure |
| 4. The wait | Users leave while the first result generates | What the screen shows during the wait and when it fails |
| 5. First result and next step | The answer is generic, or the user does not know what to do with it | What makes the first result specific and what action follows |
Before you brief anyone, agree internally on what counts as the first useful result. It could be a drafted reply the user sends, a chart they save, or a task the agent completes. Then measure two numbers from your own data: the share of new sign-ups who reach that result in their first session, and the time it takes. Without them, every agency will show a tidy flow and you will have nothing to judge it against.
Give each shortlisted agency the same material: a funnel or a screen recording from your product, with confidential details removed. Ask for five screens from sign-up to the first useful result, and four answers:
- What do you count as the first useful result for my product, and how will we know a user reached it?
- Which steps could wait until after that result?
- What does a new user see while the first result generates, and when it fails or comes out generic?
- What did the client measure after release, and who measured it?
A strong answer names a result the user can act on and the steps that can wait. A weak one redraws the sign-up form and leaves the empty box where it was.
