Contrast that with many popular SaaS products, which seem designed around capturing a particular workflow and building a shiny structure around it. This allows new users to complete the desired workflow with nearly zero learning - but then they can't do anything else. There's no space to grow.

It feels like a fundamental difference in thinking. Excel is like a box of tools. Initially you only need to drive a few nails, so you grab a hammer and start pounding. Over time, you'll figure out how to use every other tool around your house, swiftly and efficiently. Modern SaaS tooling is like Juicero. Beautiful on the surface, extremely inefficient and wasteful (and to think of all the engineering hours behind it!), and at the end of the day, all you can use it for is squeeze some DRMed juice until eventually the company folds and you're left with an expensive paperweight.

I mean, the number of products I've seen that would be more ergonomic if implemented in, and distributed as, an Excel spreadsheet, is getting too large to even call it funny. Sometimes a smart business embraces this analogy literally. Ever heard of Palisade? They're leading the information security risk modelling market, and their product is literally an Excel plugin. And, having worked in this space, were I a CISO, I'd chose them over the various startups that've been popping up over the years, simply on the grounds of ergonomics.

So by all means, design a good onboarding process. But it's good to have something to onboard people into.

(Excuse the rant.)