Our board says we need an "Arc Engine" (CEO diary)
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2023
- Confession: we've been slowing our own growth.
Browser Co CEO Josh shares a recap of our latest board meeting, what an Arc Engine actually means, and our company plan for the rest of 2023!
Q1 '23 Board Update: • Our board asked if we ...
Q4 '22 Board Update: • How will Arc browser m...
00:06 It's been a bit choppy
00:31 It all started with one question
02:09 We've been slowing our own growth
02:55 Arc Engine as the product
03:18 Plugging the leaky funnel
05:00 The next three months
06:35 We're zoned in 
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Telling an Instagram CTO "we don't do that, that's a Facebook thing" is wild. I do have a lot more respect for you now though.
Take note: after all they decided to do that.
Many CEOs lose their product's originality and mission by trying to repeat the "recipe" used by other tech giants. It's revigorating to see a CEO say those words.
Don't complex yourself over thinking Arc needs more features. The Arc product offers so much value over all other browsers, that 100% the focus now should be on improving the current experience: Get perf improvements and release to Windows. Keep chiseling, this product needs refinement not new features! Keep at it, I love it!
i agree
Exactly! I’m worried that it’ll become bloated with things most people don’t touch rather than existing features being improved/expanded on.
yes!!
Nah bro. Arc Engine is badly needed so that browsers don't have to suck Google's Chromium.
The way I'm cheering for this company is unreal. But they are right. The product is so good, it is (in a way) expected to have the growth they are having.
Please NEVER stop making these videos. Seeing your and your team's passion is wery inspiring, and as a small business owner it's also educational. I almost gave up on ARC because it was so different, and I couldn't get used to it. I loved the features and the idea, but my right arm and eyes just wouldn't accept the changes. We had a talk, and now all my bodyparts are on the same page, and we love ARC.
exactly! I love that the company is so involved with it's users and seems to actually care compared to soo many other companies, where the usual experience is intransparency and ignored feedback.
I gave feedback and a lot of times, probably because it was also suggested by other users, they shipped an update a couple weeks later with exactly that feature!
This transparency is extremely unusual, and at least I appreciate it, makes me feel I am part of the journey. By the way I started using Arc on Dec 2022 and have not even considered switching to anything. I only miss safari keychain integration
These videos are part of your product for me!
A big chunk of people not staying active users past 30 days due to lack of Windows is exactly where I landed - and I even recommended it to a friend on Mac who currently is using it. I switched to Win11 as my primary OS for content creation/performance-to-cost reasons, but prefer the MacOS experience.
I was, and am, primarily interested in Arc as a Win11 tool - a tool that would hopefully bring some of that macOS attention to detail and UX polish that the Win11 experience lacks some of the time (I wouldn't even consider using Win until 11 released).
I love Safari - tab view is indispensable - Firefox has the polish I'm looking for, but is less feature rich than Safari. Arc has this level of polish, AND new and useful features.
Also the font is noticeably worse in my opinion on Firefox than any chromium/safari browser I’ve used but personal opinion
As always, LOVE these videos. They don't need to be super high quality-webcam in room is perfect to bring us along the journey!
Super interesting point about referrals from people have a much higher chance of D5/D7. While in general it makes sense, I wonder if improving the onboarding experience could actually get that % to almost the same as it is via referral. Though watching friends as they onboard onto Arc, we've seen friction + have gotten quite a bit of feedback on how the onboarding post-settings setup could be greatly improved (to be fair, the bar is set so high by the initial settings onboarding, which is fantastic). Just walking the user though spaces/folders/profiles a bit more, with a bit of inspiration as they use it (e.g. don't even try to explain profiles until they first experience spaces-but guiding them through that like a video game). The old Mega Man + Mega Man X did such an amazing job at this "onboarding" in a way, an amazing video on it here: ruclips.net/video/8FpigqfcvlM/видео.html
Anyway, appreciate that your team is so aware of where improvements can be made-prioritization must be so difficult with the growth your team has been experiencing! You're all doing an amazing job!
I never thought I would switch to another browser outside of Chrome/Firefox, but Arc is it, I LOVE the spaces, i LOVE the boosts, i love the way it handles new tabs being opened.. SO many things.. man.. unfortunately a lot of my friends are on windows so I can't recommend it yet but I know thats coming
This is THE best App I have used in decades!!! A few more days and it will be my default browser. Please keep making it better, simpler and faster than it already is. All the best to you Josh and the ARC Team.
Thanks for sharing and building in public like this. It is a breath of fresh air. You did not only accomplish that with Arc but also with how you all are building Arc and the Browser Company (thanks for not changing the name 😃). I have been an Arc user since day one, and while some things are rough around the edges at the moment, it is still my default browser, and I probably use it more than anything else. I guess the only applications I use more are the terminal and VSCode. 😃
These videos are such a Masterclass. Thanks Mr. CEO
I love that you have both perspectives of improving the funnel at a critical point and the engine for the people to stay. I have the feeling that at some point companies and a lot of startups are concentrating on the describing product better than actually improving it.
It's so interesting to follow the Arc journey through these videos
This transparency is next level.
This is amazing for brand loyalty and a great way to show transparency in product development! Love the product and rooting for an exciting future :)
My memory muscle is already tied to arc hotkey. Don't ever stop. We will support you
Two questions:
1. Do we expect a full-fledged mobile app? (iOS) I find myself having to use Chrome/Safari because the Arc app for some reason cannot switch tabs.
2. Are you staying with the Chromium engine? Honestly that what I thought was the Arc Engine - building your own custom browser engine.
Amazing job. enjoying my Arc experience and I am one of those D7 people actually now.
That's why I clicked the video too, I thought they will create their own engine. :D
Thanks for building the product THE RIGHT WAY. Seriously, thank you.
Your release yesterday was humungous for a developer like me.
I'm absolutely in love with Arc and even if there are issues, the way you support, release things, and are open and transparent, you've got my buck!
Thank you! Now 100% on Arc. But still using Windows on the corporate Windows laptop. Will migrate to Windows Arc as soon as it's there!
I love how open he is about calling himself out about things they haven't done but really should have by now, instead of just putting some spin on it to justify past decisions.
Thank you for creating Arc and working on it to be the best it could be. I will be there with every step of the journey
Thanks for the update, Josh! I'm excited to see how applying the Arc Engine to your work will improve the Arc experience for everyone in all aspects.
Cheering for you guys! I love Arc and it's been really fun to use and experience the web through it. Keep it up!
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!!!!
Arc is a fantastical utility. Kudos to you and your team!
I absolutely love Arc so far, and i’m definitely in the “tried and staying forever” group. would love it if you guys started an Arc discord or something too, so the community can directly discuss and contribute to development :)
there is an arc discord though!
Love the updates! Love the new direction, Arc for windows will allow me to use Arc everywhere I NEED too. Arc for Iphone and Ipad will be a nice plus. Yall are changing the way i use the internet for the better. Yall have made me want all my apps to run on the browser.
I know you have separate articles and videos for specific aspects of Arc, but it would be cool if you made an occasional video along the lines of "Top X number of ways to get the most out of Arc" or "5 Arc Optimizations" or "Optimal Arc setup for Students." For example, I'm not really getting much out of the Spaces feature, but that could just be me. I just find myself using my Home space and sending tabs to my other spaces for "eventual" use. For me, what I like about Arc is the interface design. Who knows, maybe I'll get more use out of spaces in the future when I'll have a burning need to separate different aspects of my time at the computer. Thanks for a great browser. Other than for banking type stuff, I use this browser exclusively.
I've been an everyday user since the moment my invite came through months ago. So happy for the company's growth. I'm always excited when the update button appears, thinking, "Hell yes, what have they done now?!"
Hey Josh! Such a great video. Thanks for keeping us involved in this journey of growth for you and the browser company. Regards, a well-wisher.
I appreciate the mention of stability. I stopped using Arc specifically because of a bug that prevented me from opening up new tabs. Really hoping I can come back in the future.
was so excited when i saw the title, thought you were changing the chromium engine
So my experience with Arc has been nothing but sort of amazing. I almost lost it due to arc running too heavily but I quickly solved it by reducing the number of spaces.
What I can say now though, is that every part of Arc is now an integral part of my experience. It’s awesome to know that they are growing so much.
Youre doing a great job, i love Arc, its really like the best browsing experience i ever had. Congrats to this!
i love that your sharing these videos. thanks a lot for involving us.
These videos are very inspiring and shows the humane side of business. Your update pages are incredible and makes the updating exciting,
Love the transparency. I've been watching these videos for a while but have not yet made the switch. One of my hesitancies from switching browsers is I have a ton of tabs open that I never close (bad habit of mine). If there was a way to import these over to Arc with a click of a button (post install) I'd do it! I think you sort of touched on it here, Essentially, a carbon copy of my current Chrome window(s) on Arc. Maybe it already exists, in which case, see you soon!
how many tabs do you have open that you need a whole feature to port them over 😭
@@comfybaguette Seriously. This is certainly not a priority for the team, I can't even imagine any browser currently does this regardless.
I’m in the exact same boat. I’ll have upwards of 70 tabs open sometimes. So migrating to arc was a bit painful
Importing bookmarks during migration from a competitor is a crucial element to getting users to fully transition over. It's crucial to that 5/7 growth number.
Currently the 5/7s using Arc, by virtue of the fact that it does very little in the way of marketing, are hyper-engaged users - basically early adopter technophiles who love trying out new stuff and embrace the occasional discomfort of sitting on the cutting edge of technology. But when you want to attract some of the middle 80% majority who use browsers every day but aren't really looking to switch, you have to really reduce the friction of the process. Speaking from experience here.
That said, importing live, non-bookmarked tabs isn't typically done. But there's no reason it can't potentially be done. It might be possible to read the live tabs in Chrome, add them into a special Bookmarks folder -still in Chrome- that we can call 'WhereYouLeftOff', and then migrate these Bookmarks over to Arc, and finally transform the WYLO Bookmarks back into live tabs. I would probably offer to actually keep these as Bookmarks because if they're tabs the user always visits, they really should be saved.
I think there might be a workaround. If you command+D all of them into bookmarks/favourites, you can import them all over to Arc. That's what I did. And then you can divide them up into multiple spaces. It's a whole task in and of itself setting this up, but it's SO worth it.
Love this type of content, thank you for sharing!
loved Arc since the first day i used it a few months ago. Keep up the good work!
The Thomas engine at the end XD props to your video editor, or script writer for these kinds of details
Love Arc. One of of the few products I recommend to everyone. Still have no idea what Boosts are but hey, dig my Easels. I'm a total D7. Addicted.
Very smart advise to work on the ARC ENGINE. New user onboarding & general user experience is the bloodline of Arc's future.
I really love these videos!
Well done and keep it up! ❤
Yup, 100% - I tried it and never looked back. Now I can't wait for a Windows release so I can move all my machines over!
Awesome browser and these videos are great to watch. I work in a small software company too, so it’s very interesting to see your approach. Keep up the good work 💪👊
Really like this update. Thanks for sharing
I joined this past week. I'm in the perfect storm of factors where I might find myself stuck on Arc forevermore-amen type of thing. But seeing how you guys operate, I really really hope this thing blows up in a good way
But it's true, I was just trying to explain to my sister what Arc Browser was and sent her your guys' home page and she was like "Okay but what actually is Arc, this tells me nothing" hahaha so it took quite a bit of the ole word of mouth end of things for me to at least help her understand what it is
Love watching your journey! Really looking forward to the Windows version.
I heard about Arc Browser the first time in the MKBHD podcast (I think a lot did.. and I think a lot of your Q2 growth might have come from that?)...
Initially, when I tried the Browser, I found it very interesting from a "This is different"-point of view.. But then after a day or so, I started feeling a bit over-whelmed with all the new features, that you don't see often in a "normal browser".
Spaces.. The way you have Folders (Bookmarks) and the way they work... Pinned URL's.. etc. So I kinda went back to Safari again.
Also, because I really wish there was a more "real iOS experience" than the companion app.
But then I tried it again.. and now... after a bit of "getting used to it", it is by far my favorite browser. Not using the Easel and Notes part yet - but it's something I want to try and use more often.
And then the 1 thing that makes me REALLY excited about this product... again.. this is a browser. I'm not supposed to be excited about a web browser.. But... I am a Software Developer.. And from a Software Developers point of view, the way you engage your users, and make your business transparent with these videos from your team-meetings etc.. It's SO f... interesting and it makes me want to be a part of making the product even better! I love that you bring us all inside the 4 walls of your business and asks us when you want to make decisions.
And...... one last thing... THANK YOU for making release notes after each update that actually makes me interested in reading the entire thing!
such a fascinating insight in how things are run!!
Yes indeed, the waitlist was the most frustrating part of my experience, which never resulted in me getting to download the browser myself. It was only when one of my favorite tech podcasters published a stunning review of Arc and had obtained a block of invitations. Miraculously, I caught it when they were still available and finally downloaded and installed it myself. And yes, immediately Arc became my preferred and default browser, and yes, I am in the D7 category. The only downside I have found thus far is that, having come from the Brave browser for its ad-blocking capability, Arc still lets some ads slip by in RUclips. Other than this, I am completely in love with Arc! ❤💘💓
Guys keep on goin... im a 5D-7D User of Arc on Mac... but i need that thing asap on my Windows Business machine 🙂... you guys make a very good job an Arc... lovin it...
Those intro emails played a large role in getting me hooked in terms of feature education, and I'd imagine are likely a place where you can make progress on those metrics pre sign-up. Keen to see that marketing page when released. Congrats on the move Josh!
so glad you liked the emails! curious, when did you join? we just did a revamp of them a couple weeks ago :)
@@EllisHamburger Hey Ellis, I joined Dec 2020 and remember most concretely the email "Have you left us for your last browser?" I remember using it as inspo for an onboarding sequence I was working on at the time. I hadn't in fact made the switch to Arc as default yet - so thought it was rather timely and smart of you to try and identify churn reasons for users who haven't "got it" yet.
Arc changed the way that I work and browse everyday, for me the main selling point is the ability to have different profiles between spaces. Before Arc I usually had two chrome windows open(one profile per window) and even if I use different colors between them I still get confused about which one is which, so thankfully Arc changed that!
I am one of the many just waiting on the Windows launch. I've used Arc on a company Macbook for work while I had it and it was such a wonderful experience I even considered getting a Mac myself or running it on a MacOS VM for my personal machine. It feels like a subpar browsing experience having to go back to using Chrome on my Windows home computer after having used Arc for work so I am really hoping and waiting for the Windows release. No pressure!
Let's fuckin' go guys. 🚀
love you guys!!!! arc engine vroom vroom
I’ve never put up with even a single bug in a software before, but even with some bugs windows is still just amazing!
I am definitely a D5 that hopes to become a D7 😅 Use Arc every weekday for work on my Macbook, but would love to use it on the weekends on Windows too! I was wavering on whether to stick with Arc for a little while, mainly due to struggling to understand how bookmarks can truly map to pinned tabs without becoming cluttered/confusing. What turned everything around for me was realizing how severely I was underutilizing Arc's Spaces. Now I struggle when I have to go back to Chrome on the weekends. It feels so... useless.
Before I even joined the waiting list, I knew I wanted Arc, and wasn't going to give it up unless it failed to meet the most basic expectations that it gave me. I immediately got what it was about, and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. That said, I was a big user of Omniweb back in the day, and there are similarities between the two in areas that I have missed since Omniweb went by the wayside. I'm waiting for it to be available on Windows, so I can get my brother on board. 😀
Performance. Yes, focus on performance please. I'm working now on Arc & Chrome in parallel, but that's only because I love you guys.
So happy for you guys! I can't use it in a MacBook Air from 2015 :(
My main obstacle to really going all in on Arc is muscle memory. I work on a Mac but at home I'm on Windows and at work I can't afford to lose a lot of productivity because I need to learn the new tool but if I could play with it at home in my spare time I could become much more productive.
Love Arc! It’s becoming a major project management hub for me.
Definitely looking forward to having Arc on my Windows desktop. I never thought I would enjoy using a web browser as much as I do with Arc on my Macbook.
I really agree with the fact you need to work on your (already very good) 1st-day UX. I've been very hyped about Arc for a long time, I think you have a great product, and I still keep up with your work and content, but I've never had the energy to really make the switch. Hell, I'm even too lazy to pick one browser at all -I'm still constantly switching between Safari and Chrome. I wish you the best, and I'm convinced Arc will gain plenty more users in the future!
as a person on the windows waitlist, I have seen enough videos on Arc’s features to already want it as a main browser. I am so patiently waiting for windows.
Windows user here. On the waitlist for over 6 months, but rest assured, you have NOT lost me. Metrics can be funny like that. Wishing you all the best.
PS: If you want to keep me, an easy to use built-in adblock is a deal breaker, because you can snatch users from Opera and Brave, and you know Chrome will never integrate an adblock
As everyday user of Arc, I can see myself using other browsers, the browser which increase my performance daily.
I love Arc. It has changed the way i work. It is the BEST.
For a second there I was ecstatic about the prospect of you guys leaving the Blink/Chrome engine… ;)
I love all the features the browser has, but one of the things that made me drop it the next day after installing and only coming back to it days later, when I had time, was having to go through the features of the browser once it was installed. Rather than opening the browser and getting to work, I had no easy way of getting to know those features beforehand. Also, for new things like the Easel and such, a few example Easels already preconfigured in the browser would've been great! I personally learn faster by exploring examples. It's harder to get creative looking at an empty easel in real life, not only in a browser. A little preconfigured inspiration would have made me get into it faster.
after using arc for about three months i love it so much however am starting to hesitate to use it because my battery is being drained. What am actually working on my computer I’m usually connected to an external monitor and don’t have to worry about power, so I use Arc. But when I’m out of about identity, use Edge specially were streaming videos online to pass the time. I find that edge saves me a lot of battery life
impatiently waiting lol. for the windows Arc.... Absolutely the browser other than mac/ios only great job
I like to see the growth and transparency it gives, as I look forward to Arc coming to Windows until I get a Mac xd, long live Arc🥳🥳
I really fn enjoy your browser!
Hey Josh - if Arc gets on Windows and drops the waitlist and does zero marketing, everything else takes care of itself. There’s enough value that an entire community of creators will be built around doing marketing for you; the product is just that good that I don’t think traditional marketing school rules should apply.
Great product!
Arc is amazinggg
arc is 1# browser im using
if i were on mac
sadly my older opencore hackintosh is nothing really usable and so im stuck on win 11.. the user curve is nothing id be concerned about at this point.. as you said, it's not 1st day out of the box experience and i love being part of it
First , always good to hear updates
Oh, I hoped this was about web engines... 🙃
I don't want to contribute to Google having more power on the web that it already has (RUclips is the only product of theirs I'm using). Their choice of engine is what keeps me from using either Arc or Vivaldi.
(For those curious, I go between Firefox and Orion - and sometimes Safari.)
I second this! For me, I don't feel strongly enough about this to prevent myself from using Arc, but I do wish they would move away from Chromium at some point.
Really like Arc and most of the features BUT I had to switch back to Safari as Arc is extremely slow in page loading on Ventura (always takes 3-4 seconds to launch) and the higher battery consumption...Hope to see huge improvements there soon ;-)
Yes, the extreme usage of battery is one of the reasons it's not my primary browser.
You had me at the Thomas theme
switched back to Safari for the Sonoma beta in June (I wanted to see how their profiles feature worked) and immediately missed so many quality of life features in Arc that I didn't even think about until they were suddenly gone. With iCloud keychain getting Chrome support it was a no-brainer to go back to Arc.
I have Arc installed on both my Macbooks. And it is pretty much default when I use my Mac. But for most of my work I just prefer using windows with WSL2 on it. So I just pull out my Macbooks maybe once or twice a month.
I'm very curious how your growth curve will look like once Arc finally steps into windows. :D Can't wait.
A full password manager for desktop and mobile and full mobile experience and I’ll fully switch to it. I love the browser it’s just feels really half baked on iOS
I'm curious about the Windows browser - how much of what is done on Mac is transferrable? Will it be a whole second product that needs equal attention for features and performance?
my god i love this company!
When is Linux coming? Been waiting for Arc on Windows/Linux for a very long time :(
i love arc thank you browser company people
My Day 1 experience was amazing. I mean I’m already logged in to all the same websites?!
oh my god the ending song, amazing haha
I will be smashing that download button for windows the moment it is out, keep it up you guys can do it!
Intro track is "ABBA - gimme gimme gimme (lofi remix)" by Joongle
I love Arc!
I wish you had a minute video explaining what arc is like how you did for the new boost
The phrase I use in startups is "The Whole Company is the Machine."
I’ve been waiting to get off the waitlist and watching this video made me think huh I wonder if I got off. Turns out I got an email back in April so yeah the waitlist really does lose users