5 things you can do wrong right before the launch

Margarita Shvetsova
26 replies
Hey Product Hunt people, This week has been hectic as we're launching our product next week. I was going to get a lot of stuff done on time, but... here is what I have done wrong - sharing this in hope it will be helpful to fellow makers launching soon! ;) #1: SETTING UP A SHIP PAGE TOO LATE I created our Ship page just 10 days prior to the launch, but I could have easily done that 2 months ago. Why didn't I even try? Creating it is so fast and easy, and the best part is that you can edit it anytime! Right now my opinion is that a Ship page is almost like a business card. You are building relationships, you hope people will remember you when you launch your product, but... you don't give them your business card - that is, the link to your Ship page. So making this page ahead of time is definitely a good idea. Btw, this is my Ship page: https://www.producthunt.com/upco... I even got some great feedback from the community and edited the page accordingly - thanks, Ido! @ido_lavi #2: NOT TURNING ON THE PROMOTE MODE ON THE SHIP PAGE I paid for my Ship page and waited several days for it to show up in the Upcoming products section. When I finally contacted the support with the question "why?", it turned out it was my fault: I didn't turn on the Promote button and lost a couple of precious days :/ but at least the support was super fast to help out. #3: NOT PUTTING ON HOLD EVERYTHING BUT THE LAUNCH PREPARATIONS What should you do a week prior to the launch? Ideally just focus on the launch-related tasks. But I still spent some time on other work tasks which could have waited (or been delegated), because I felt bad about colleagues waiting for my response. #4: KEEPING READING "HOW-TO" ARTICLES ABOUT PH LAUNCH πŸ™ˆ I already read a ton of such articles like 2 months ago. A week before the launch is definitely not the right time to scan these articles trying to find some great advice I could use for the launch. It's time for the action. not for the research! It is indeed my guilty pleasure to dive into research and not knowing when to stop. Don't be like me, save your time :) #5: DOING MOST OF PREPARATIONS BY YOURSELF I did delegate working on visuals, but almost everything else in terms of preparations has been done by myself. Now I realize it takes way more time than I thought. So I should have either given myself more time to work on preparing for the launch, or shared launch-related activities with somebody from my team. Probably I just felt like doing it all by myself and having all the fame myself, lol. No, it's best to share, teamwork is the way to go! :) Here is one thing I DID RIGHT though. 2 weeks ago I made a list of things left to do before the launch AND marked the priority: high, middle and low priority. So when I found out I'm falling behind my own schedule, I also found out I didn't spend time on things with low priority. Hopefully I'll get the important stuff done this weekend... wish me luck πŸ˜€

Replies

Dawn Veltri
This is all good advice. You've got this! I subscribed to your upcoming page and I'm looking forward to the launch.
Margarita Shvetsova
@dawn_veltri1 Thank you Dawn, I appreciate your support! :) I would love to see how your launch goes too! Do you plan to launch this year or next?
Derek Duban
Thanks for these tips. I was just starting to think about maybe considering the possibility of perhaps trying Ship. Maybe. You convinced me I should have done it months ago, but honestly I want to release on PH next week and not wait a couple months for Ship to do its magic. Then there's the holiday season to gum up the works. I feel this comment went off the rails. But thanks again for these tips.
Margarita Shvetsova
@sclerek Yeah, end of November and December (and even first part of January perhaps) is all about holiday season, and I suppose a lot of seasonal products will pop up here on PH. So if one chooses to wait until it's over, it will take quite a while. I think it's OK to launch with less preparations if you know you can add some major features 6 months later and try launching v2 :) and with the second attempt, you can allocate more time for preparations while learning from the experience of your first launch.
Margarita Shvetsova
@sclerek By the way, what is your product about? What's it called? Too bad you don't have a Ship page, I wanted to check it out and possibly subscribe. I would love to see how your launch goes and chat about it. Actually I plan to write an article about how different teams prepare for launch and what the outcome is.
Derek Duban
@margarita_s88 Hi. I created a Ship page last night. Still working on it lots but my project is online now too. Ship page: https://www.producthunt.com/upco... Thanks for your interest.
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Wow, thanks this is really useful, will watch out for your launch ))
Victor David
Thanks Margarita, very useful tips.
Natalia
Hey Margarita, thanks for sharing the experience! Regarding point #3, I think focusing on a single project, even when it has the highest priority, is possible only in an ideal, "sterile" version of reality. IRL, there are always additional issues that require your attention here and now, and routine daily errands add up to the hassle. To be realistic about the time you could allocate for the launch, I'd say that 75% of a working day is the limit. What do you guys think of an estimation like this?
Margarita Shvetsova
@natalia_est true words, Natalia! Yeah, the best thing would be to take into account possible distractions and allocate more time for preparations: like not less than two months (but preferably more, if only one person in the team is preparing the launch). I think 75% of working time allocated for the launch is quite a realistic maximum :)
Bertha Kgokong
Thanks for sharing, I will keep an eye out for your launch, I am sure you will do great. All the best.
I know we've talked already but this is really helpful you sharing all of this information. We are getting round to our ship page this week so plenty of time for us but our chat really helped me to focus on it. All the best with the launch!
Margarita Shvetsova
@maxwellcdavis awesome, I am very glad it was helpful! Love sorting out the information and sharing it with others =) Feel free to send me your Ship page once it's ready if you'd like my feedback ;) Thank you!!!
Amanda Tunner
Thanks for these useful tips, my product's about to be launched next week and I wish I could know it sooner πŸ˜₯ I've subscribed to your upcoming page and wish you all the best for the launch πŸ˜€
Margarita Shvetsova
@amanda_tunner Thanks very much Amanda! 😊 same here, I wish I had known it before, but hopefully we'll have another launch in 6 months (and maybe your team too πŸ˜‰) and we'll be more prepared next time. By the way, I plan writing an article about PH launch preparations and highlighting those things that are not mentioned in typical "prepare for a PH launch articles" very soon, so stay tuned πŸ˜€
Amanda Tunner
@margarita_s88 Hey Margarita, your product seems really cool and I can't wait to upvote it! I'm gonna launch my product tomorrow and it'd be nice to have you support πŸ˜€
Margarita Shvetsova
@amanda_tunner thanks Amanda! Actually our product Nitro launched on Monday and I remember sending you an email about that as to a Nitro Ship page's subscriber ;) Have you seen it? We did end up with #4 Product of the day, but I'll still appreciate it if you check it out ;) I've just seen Flowio launch and will go and check it out now :D
Eivind HΓ₯verstad
Thanks for sharing! πŸ˜ƒ Good luck with your launch today! πŸš€
Vian Trinh
😍 #4 and #5 are so me! I guess that's how it goes being the only growth hacker in the team πŸ₯² Your advice is spot on, Margarita. Thank you thank you thank you!!