>"It also tracks how long someone spends on a website as a measure of how useful the information is likely to be"

they're already gaming their own algorithm

I couldn't find it in Google either. Found two other tech companies using Beam in their product name (not to mention Erlang) which is only a minor issue. And the site doesn't mention browser anywhere on the homepage (SEO?).

Even the footer and "Join the beta" CTA only loads after the generic slogan.

Hopefully this isn't an indication of their design and web dev sensibilities. Which are critical for browser development. This is some basic work you do before doing PR rounds.

Edit: found a blog post with their 'vision', with content that would work better as homepage https://getonbeam.medium.com/beam-bright-paper-1ca4ae41ae0b

It's almost like they were trying to reverse-optimize conversion, like maximizing click-away rate. I really want to see how someone well-versed in UX would justify such design, because I see it in many places and am absolutely baffled that anyone could think it's a good idea. It also requires (what I see as) a nontrivial amount of JS/CSS wand waving, which compounds my confusion.

Might be wise for a beta sign up, depending on the objective? If you only want the true believers/patient, this is actually a useful pattern for you.

Maybe the issue is that we assume betas are a way of establishing a customer base instead of establishing a product?