I find that after you click on the floating bubble, it takes about 10 seconds before the bot sends it's first message... Is there a way to speed this up? I am on a free plan but happy to pay more.

Not at the moment, but that's a normal behavior if the bot hasn't been used for a while, as bots run on-demand and when unused they take a little time to warm up, but once it's warmed up it responds almost instantly in general. As long as your bot is used frequently enough during the day by its users it initial replies will be much faster.

Thank you, Abe!