What actually moved the needle on your launch day, and what turned out to be noise?

Launching on the 10th of Aug. and doing the last round of prep.

I've read plenty of "how to launch" advice, but most of it is written by people selling launch services. I'd rather hear from makers who've actually been through it.

Two specific questions:

1. What did you spend time on before launch day that you'd skip if you did it again?

2. What did you almost not bother with that ended up mattering?

For context on where I'm starting: assets are ready, small email list, and no illusions about hunter follower counts mattering, PH's own numbers say 79% of featured posts are self-hunted.

Happy to report back after mine with what worked and what didn't. The follow-up data seems more useful than another pre-launch checklist.