Essentials for launching a product

That's a great checklist, Nika!

I would add a few things to your list:

• One is the prelaunch community engagement. Rally early adopters, customers, and colleagues from your industry before the launch.

• Have a clear launch day engagement plan where you're ready to reply to every comment quickly. Visit other maker's launches and have real conversations with them. Share your launch on social media, your newsletter, or anything else you can leverage.

• Make your comment section conversational. Don't let it become a place for "thank you" comments. Ask questions, seek feedback and encourage sign ups.

• Make sure your product is actually ready before launching: no confusing onboarding, no obvious bugs, and a polished landing page that communicates the value proposition. Ensure your servers have the bandwidth to handle the traffic.

Hope this helps the makers who are doing their first launch. :)

Great list, Nika. One thing I'd add: a plan for the day itself, not just the prep. Being around to reply to every comment fast, and going to other launches to have real conversations. The prep gets you to the start line, but the day is mostly about showing up and staying present.

I'd also add knowing exactly who the product is for, so your first comment and your replies speak to those people instead of staying generic.

Launching today myself, so I'm testing all of this in real time. Thanks for the thread.

Great topic, Nika!

Honestly, one thing I keep seeing is that many products rush the launch. They ask for feedback from the community, but the truth is that the product itself is often not ready yet. The landing page is too basic, the onboarding inside the product is confusing, there are small bugs, and the overall first impression suffers because of that. Or the whole idea is outdated.

So for me, launch preparation should always start with the product. It needs to be in a solid, presentable state first. After that come the Product Hunt assets: gallery images, video, tagline, description, and the maker comment. But there is another layer too: outreach and collaborations. You need to coordinate with other founders, teams, creators, and relevant people at least 1–2 weeks before launch day.

And I also think more makers should prepare a post-launch strategy. A strong Product Hunt launch can help with investor conversations, newsletter mentions, YouTube coverage, partnerships, great ads and many other distribution opportunities.

So yes, the launch day matters, but the full launch preparation matters even more.

Would love an official list! I found a few online and used the ones that seemed most common while preparing for our launch today, but I'd love to see if I'm missing anything.

I'd also add meeting with your team (even if it's you and one other person) day of to work on promotion together.

Also how do you typically think about choosing the right launch day?

I would add an expectation building table also (aka "KPIs"). Actually, this is something I did in advance, estimating what impact our campaign can have, and especially what we would consider low results, expected results and wow level. Helps keeping the mind structured.

I’d add a lot of free time on launch day away from the daily routine + good mood.
And of course a warmed-up account with at least of few weeks of useful activity before the launch.

I'm curious about your list. What is a hunter? -Who should give the first comment? -You didn't mention a video. I'm thankful!

@busmark_w_nika Pour moi c’est simple : 1) Avoir 5-10 users qui t’attendent le jour J 2) Une landing qui explique le problème en 1 phrase 3) Être H24 sur les commentaires Product Hunt. Le design on l’améliore après. Le plus dur c’est pas de shipper, c’est que personne ne le voit. Toi t’as déjà lancé un produit ici ?