diff --git a/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-header.jsx b/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-header.jsx
index 59e0f97f1..5c1f84d69 100644
--- a/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-header.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-header.jsx
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ export default class ComposerHeader extends React.Component {
   static propTypes = {
     draft: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
     session: React.PropTypes.object.isRequired,
+    initiallyFocused: React.PropTypes.bool,
   }
 
   static contextTypes = {
@@ -35,12 +36,12 @@ export default class ComposerHeader extends React.Component {
 
   constructor(props = {}) {
     super(props)
-    this.state = this._initialStateForDraft(this.props.draft);
+    this.state = this._initialStateForDraft(this.props.draft, props);
   }
 
   componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
     if (this.props.session !== nextProps.session) {
-      this.setState(this._initialStateForDraft(nextProps.draft));
+      this.setState(this._initialStateForDraft(nextProps.draft, nextProps));
     } else {
       this._ensureFilledFieldsEnabled(nextProps.draft);
     }
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ export default class ComposerHeader extends React.Component {
     }
   }
 
-  _initialStateForDraft(draft) {
+  _initialStateForDraft(draft, props) {
     const enabledFields = [Fields.To];
     if (!_.isEmpty(draft.cc)) {
       enabledFields.push(Fields.Cc);
@@ -94,8 +95,8 @@ export default class ComposerHeader extends React.Component {
     }
 
     return {
-      enabledFields: enabledFields,
-      participantsFocused: false,
+      enabledFields,
+      participantsFocused: props.initiallyFocused,
     };
   }
 
diff --git a/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-view.jsx b/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-view.jsx
index 9bc4d1465..de2841f0f 100644
--- a/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-view.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/composer/lib/composer-view.jsx
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ export default class ComposerView extends React.Component {
           ref="header"
           draft={this.props.draft}
           session={this.props.session}
+          initiallyFocused={this.props.draft.to.length === 0}
         />
         <div
           className="compose-body"
diff --git a/internal_packages/composer/lib/main.es6 b/internal_packages/composer/lib/main.es6
index 4797dc253..c9a472bf3 100644
--- a/internal_packages/composer/lib/main.es6
+++ b/internal_packages/composer/lib/main.es6
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class ComposerWithWindowProps extends React.Component {
     super(props);
 
     // We'll now always have windowProps by the time we construct this.
-    const windowProps = NylasEnv.getWindowProps()
+    const windowProps = NylasEnv.getWindowProps();
     const {draftJSON, draftClientId} = windowProps;
     if (!draftJSON) {
       throw new Error("Initialize popout composer windows with valid draftJSON")
@@ -34,30 +34,34 @@ class ComposerWithWindowProps extends React.Component {
     this.state = windowProps
   }
 
-  onDraftReady = () => {
+  componentWillUnmount() {
+    if (this._usub) {this._usub()}
+  }
+
+  componentDidUpdate() {
+    this.refs.composer.focus()
+  }
+
+  _onDraftReady = () => {
     this.refs.composer.focus().then(() => {
       NylasEnv.displayWindow();
+
       if (this.state.errorMessage) {
         this._showInitialErrorDialog(this.state.errorMessage);
       }
 
-      // Give the composer some time to render before hitting another wall
-      // of javascript.
-      window.setTimeout(() => {
-        NylasEnv.getCurrentWindow().updateLoadSettings({
-          windowType: "composer",
+      // This will start loading the rest of the composer's plugins. This
+      // may take a while (hundreds of ms) depending on how many plugins
+      // you have installed. For some reason it takes two frames to
+      // reliably get the basic composer (Send button, etc) painted
+      // properly.
+      window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+        window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
+          NylasEnv.getCurrentWindow().updateLoadSettings({
+            windowType: "composer",
+          })
         })
-
-        // The call to updateLoadSettings will start loading the remaining
-        // packages. Once those packages load it'll cause a change in the
-        // root Sheet-level InjectedComponentSet, which will cause
-        // everything to re-render losing our focus. We have to manually
-        // refocus it but defer it so the event loop of the package
-        // activation happens first.
-        window.setTimeout(() => {
-          this.refs.composer.focus()
-        }, 32)
-      }, 32)
+      })
     });
   }
 
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ class ComposerWithWindowProps extends React.Component {
     return (
       <ComposerViewForDraftClientId
         ref="composer"
-        onDraftReady={this.onDraftReady}
+        onDraftReady={this._onDraftReady}
         draftClientId={this.state.draftClientId}
         className="composer-full-window"
       />
diff --git a/src/component-registry.coffee b/src/component-registry.coffee
index a057ba89c..68e4aa8ac 100644
--- a/src/component-registry.coffee
+++ b/src/component-registry.coffee
@@ -160,7 +160,19 @@ class ComponentRegistry
 
     return [].concat(results)
 
-  triggerDebounced: _.debounce(( -> @trigger(@)), 1)
+  # We debounce because a single plugin may activate many components in
+  # their `activate` methods. Furthermore, when the window loads several
+  # plugins may load in sequence. Plugin loading takes a while (dozens of
+  # ms) since javascript is being read and `require` trees are being
+  # traversed.
+  #
+  # Triggering the ComponentRegistry is fairly expensive since many very
+  # high-level components (like the <Sheet />) listen and re-render when
+  # this triggers.
+  #
+  # We set the debouce interval to 2 "frames" (33ms) to balance
+  # responsiveness and efficient batching.
+  triggerDebounced: _.debounce(( -> @trigger(@)), 33)
 
   _removeDeprecatedRoles: (displayName, roles) ->
     newRoles = _.clone(roles)