launch & gtm strategy · playbook
Product launch checklist: T-6 weeks to T+30 days
A phased product launch checklist for B2B teams: positioning, pages, emails, social, community, ads, PR, measurement, plus a Product Hunt launch checklist.
Key takeaways
- Size the launch first: a tier 1 launch gets the full six-week plan, a tier 3 feature gets a changelog entry, an email and a post.
- Positioning and the landing page are the critical path; every email, post and ad depends on them, so lock them by T-4 weeks.
- On Product Hunt you may share your launch link anywhere, but you cannot ask people to upvote; ask them to visit and comment.
- Show HN is only for things people can try now; landing pages and signup walls are off topic.
- Decide the success metric and the tracking before launch day, or you will end up reporting on likes.
A product launch checklist is a dated list of every asset, owner and action needed to take a product or feature from “built” to “adopted”: positioning, pages, emails, social posts, community posts, ads, PR and measurement. The version below runs from six weeks before launch (T-6) to 30 days after (T+30). Copy the tables, delete what your launch tier does not need, and assign one owner per row.
How big is this launch? Pick a tier first
Most launch plans fail because a minor feature gets a major-release plan (and burns the team) or a real release gets a tweet. Decide the tier before anything else.
| Tier | What it is | Lead time | Typical assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | New product, new pricing, or a change in who you sell to | 6+ weeks | Everything in this guide |
| Tier 2 | Significant feature customers have asked for | 2-3 weeks | Landing section, customer email, social, sales enablement, changelog |
| Tier 3 | Incremental improvement | Days | Changelog entry, in-app note, one post |
Decision rule: if the launch changes what you say on your homepage or what sales says on a first call, it is tier 1.
What to do six weeks out (T-6 to T-4)
This phase is about decisions, not assets. Nothing downstream can be written until these are settled.
| Done | Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ ] | Launch tier, date and one success metric agreed | PMM + product lead | Pick a metric you can measure in 30 days: activated accounts, demos booked, upgrades |
| [ ] | Positioning statement | PMM | For [audience] who [problem], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [alternative], it [differentiator] |
| [ ] | Messaging hierarchy | PMM | One headline, three pillars, proof point for each |
| [ ] | Pricing and packaging confirmed | Founder/product | Which plan includes it, any launch offer and its expiry date |
| [ ] | Customer proof lined up | CS | Beta users willing to be quoted, or screenshots you have permission to use |
| [ ] | Launch brief doc | PMM | Tier, date, audience, message, metric, channel list, owners |
| [ ] | Channel list with owners | PMM | Website, email, social, community, ads, PR, partners, sales |
| [ ] | Tracking plan | Growth/ops | UTM convention, conversion events, dashboard you will review at T+7 and T+30 |
If you cannot write the positioning statement in one sentence, the launch date is too early.
What to build four to two weeks out (T-4 to T-2)
| Done | Item | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ ] | Landing page or homepage section | PMM + web | Headline matches the messaging, one primary CTA, proof above the fold |
| [ ] | Demo video or GIF walkthrough (60-120 seconds) | PMM | Reused on the landing page, social, Product Hunt, and in sales emails |
| [ ] | Docs and help articles | Product/docs | Published but unlinked until launch |
| [ ] | Changelog / release notes entry | Product | Drafted |
| [ ] | Email sequence | Lifecycle | Customers announcement, prospects/newsletter announcement, a T+7 follow-up for non-openers or non-activators |
| [ ] | Email deliverability check | Ops | If you send 5,000+ messages a day to Gmail, Google requires SPF, DKIM, a DMARC record, one-click unsubscribe, and a spam rate below 0.30% |
| [ ] | Social posts drafted | Social | Company page, founder, and two or three employees, each with a different angle |
| [ ] | Community posts drafted | Founder | Show HN, relevant subreddits, Slack/Discord communities (see etiquette below) |
| [ ] | Ad creative and audiences | Paid | Retargeting site visitors and customer lookalikes first; cold prospecting only for tier 1 |
| [ ] | Press list and pitch | PR/founder | 10-20 reporters and newsletter writers who have covered the category, not 200 |
| [ ] | Sales and support enablement | PMM | One-page brief: what it is, who it is for, objections and answers, pricing, FAQs |
| [ ] | Partner heads-up | Partnerships | Integration partners who might co-announce |
What to finalize in the last two weeks (T-2 to T-1)
| Done | Item | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| [ ] | Internal demo to sales, CS and support; record it | PMM |
| [ ] | Embargoed briefings with press, if any (agree the embargo time in writing) | PR |
| [ ] | QA the full funnel: ad, landing page, signup, onboarding email, in-app empty state | Growth |
| [ ] | Test every UTM link and conversion event fires | Ops |
| [ ] | Schedule emails, posts and the Product Hunt listing | Owners |
| [ ] | Brief friendly customers and advocates: date, link, what you would like feedback on | Founder |
| [ ] | Assign launch-day roles: who answers comments on each channel, who watches signups and errors | PMM |
| [ ] | Rollback plan if the product breaks under load | Engineering |
What happens on launch day
Run launch day from a single shared doc or board with the hour-by-hour plan.
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| Launch minus 1 hour | Final check of pages, flags and pricing in production |
| Launch | Flip feature flags, publish landing page, docs and changelog |
| +0-1 hour | Product Hunt listing live (if launching there), first maker comment posted |
| +1 hour | Customer email sends; founder and company LinkedIn posts go out |
| +2 hours | Show HN / community posts, staggered so you can stay in each thread |
| All day | Reply to every comment and question within an hour; log objections and bugs |
| End of day | Snapshot metrics: visits, signups, activation, demos, top referrers |
Rule: the founder or a maker stays in the comment threads all day. Unanswered questions on launch day read as an abandoned product.
What to do in the 30 days after launch (T+1 to T+30)
| Done | When | Item |
|---|---|---|
| [ ] | T+1 | Thank-you post with what you learned or a notable stat from day one |
| [ ] | T+2 | Debrief: what broke, what questions kept coming up, which channel drove signups |
| [ ] | T+3 to T+7 | Fix the top onboarding drop-off you saw on launch day |
| [ ] | T+7 | Follow-up email to non-activated signups with one specific next step |
| [ ] | T+7 | Review ad performance; cut audiences with no conversions, move budget to retargeting |
| [ ] | T+14 | Publish a use-case post or short customer story from early adopters |
| [ ] | T+14 | Update sales deck and objection handling with real questions from launch |
| [ ] | T+30 | Report against the one success metric; decide on the next push (webinar, case study, paid scale-up) |
A launch is not a single day. The T+30 work usually produces more pipeline than launch day itself, because it reaches the people who saw the announcement but did not act.
How to post on Reddit and Hacker News without getting buried
Community channels reward participation and punish broadcasting. Some ground rules:
- Hacker News (Show HN). The Show HN guidelines say it is for things people can run or hold: “Don’t post landing pages or fundraisers,” make it easy to try “ideally without barriers such as signups or emails,” and the project must be something you built and are around to discuss. Minor feature upgrades “generally aren’t substantive enough.” Never ask friends to upvote or comment; HN explicitly asks you not to. Write a plain title starting with “Show HN:”, then add a first comment explaining what you built, why, and what is technically interesting.
- Reddit. Read each subreddit’s rules before posting; many ban self-promotion outright or limit it to a weekly thread. Post from an account with real history in that community, lead with the problem or the lesson, disclose that you built the product, and answer every reply. Our Reddit organic community playbook covers this in depth.
- Slack and Discord communities. Use the designated promotion channel. Do not DM members your launch link.
Product Hunt launch checklist
Product Hunt still works for developer tools, AI products and prosumer SaaS; it matters less for enterprise software sold top-down. If you launch there, these are the rules and practices from Product Hunt’s own Launch Guide:
| Done | Item | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| [ ] | Hunt it yourself | Product Hunt encourages makers to hunt their own products and says there is “no discernible advantage” to a third-party hunter. Company accounts are prohibited; launch from a personal account |
| [ ] | Schedule the launch | You can schedule up to one month in advance. Product Hunt suggests 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, since the homepage day runs on Pacific time, so you get the full day on the leaderboard |
| [ ] | Pick the day | Product Hunt’s own advice: “The best day to launch is the day on which you’re most prepared.” Avoid days your team cannot staff the comment thread |
| [ ] | Name and tagline | Name only, no descriptions or emojis unless part of the name. Tagline max 60 characters, plain and clear about what it does |
| [ ] | Thumbnail | Square, 240x240 recommended, under 3MB. GIFs animate only on hover, so the first frame must stand alone |
| [ ] | Gallery | At least two images; 1270x760 recommended. Show the product, not slogans |
| [ ] | Video | YouTube link only, not private |
| [ ] | Link | Your real URL; Product Hunt does not accept shortened or tracking links |
| [ ] | Add co-makers | They need Product Hunt accounts, created well before launch day |
| [ ] | Launch offer | If you add a promo, the offer, code and expiry are all required |
| [ ] | First comment ready | Who you are, why you built it, who it is for, and what feedback you want. Ask for feedback, not upvotes |
| [ ] | Launch-day sharing | Share the link anywhere you like, but “you cannot ask people directly to upvote your product”; ask them to visit and comment |
| [ ] | Reply to every comment | Use the Launch Day dashboard to track position and replies |
| [ ] | Claim the product page | Request edit access to your Product Page as soon as you launch |
You can launch again when you have a significant new version, but Product Hunt’s help center asks makers to wait at least six months between launches of the same product (or from the same company or root domain); earlier relaunch requests go to review.
What to measure (and what to ignore)
Decide this at T-6 and build the dashboard before launch day.
| Layer | Metrics | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Attention | Landing page sessions by source, email opens/clicks, post impressions | Analytics, ESP, social |
| Interest | Signups, demo requests, trial starts, by UTM source | Analytics + CRM |
| Adoption | Activation rate (reached the “aha” action), feature usage among existing customers | Product analytics |
| Revenue | Pipeline created, upgrades, expansion tied to the launch | CRM |
Ignore upvote counts and impressions as success measures. They are inputs. A launch with 40 upvotes that books 15 qualified demos beat the one that hit #1 and booked none.
Common product launch mistakes
- No owner per row. “Marketing” is not an owner. A name is.
- Assets before positioning. Rewriting every email after the headline changes costs a week.
- Launching everything on day one. Stagger channels so you can be present in each thread.
- Forgetting existing customers. They are the easiest adopters and the best source of quotes.
- Stopping at T+1. The follow-up email, use-case post and sales update are where pipeline comes from.
Generate the checklist from your launch brief
If you would rather not copy tables by hand, the Launch Checklist Generator agent in GTM Hacker reads a launch card (what is launching, tier, date, audience) and drafts a checklist of GTM assets: landing page copy, email sequence, social announcements, press release, internal enablement and a measurement plan, with suggested owners, effort and dependencies. Your team reviews and edits it before anything moves forward. For the strategy that should sit above any launch, see the go-to-market strategy template.