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Kevin William David

LaunchNotes - Easily communicate product change, internally and externally

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LaunchNotes delivers exceptional customer experiences by keeping internal teams and external users ahead of upcoming product changes. It provides the right updates to the right people at the right time so that no one is ever surprised by any product change.

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Danny Olinsky
Love the focus of the product and the problem LaunchNotes is solving. Enjoying how easy it is to get the product setup right out of the gate, the way you can organize your releases, and create different updates for internal/external users. For years, customers of @statuspageio wanted us to expand into product updates and it would have been nice to send them over to LaunchNotes if it had existed :) Definitely recommend SaaS folks out there to give it a try.
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks, @dannyolinsky! 🙏🏼 LaunchNotes was definitely inspired by many of the core tenants that underpinned @statuspageio. Specifically the strong belief the open, transparent customer comms are an absolute must for any SaaS product that wants to build a loyal and happy user base. Super happy that you're enjoying the product and really appreciate the support! 🚀
Larry Yackley
@dannyolinsky @statuspageio @jakebrereton yes. The ease of setup is a huge plus for this product. Clear and concise. Why is that so hard for other developers?
Tyler Davis
Maker
Hey folks, thanks for having us! And a special thanks to @kevin for hunting us. Our team has been heads down on this for the better part of 9 months and we're really excited to be here. The launch of LaunchNotes feels a bit like the Super Bowl of launching things for us. 😅 Teams are struggling. The rise of Agile and CI/CD have led to a rapid increase in the speed of software delivery and people everywhere are finding it impossible to keep up. Instead of focusing on building great products, Product Managers are forced to spend their days keeping track of who needs to know what when across the business, all while getting hammered on Slack for status updates. And teams like Customer Support, Product Marketing, and Content Design are having a harder and harder time keeping track of what's reaching users when. Nevermind having time to prepare. If your customer-facing teams aren't able to stay on top of delivery dates and times, what are your customers feeling? Surprised. And when your customers rely on your service to do their job, surprising them is unacceptable. With LaunchNotes, we're focused on taking the surprise out of product change. We believe that everybody deserves to live in a world of continuous development. This starts with better communication. With category-based subscriptions, internal change feeds, and public release streams, LaunchNotes gives you the tools you need to easily communicate progress and upcoming change to the right people at the right time. Every time. No more guessing, no more surprises. We've got a sweet deal for all Product Hunters: 6 months of service at 50% off. All that we ask is that you give us your feedback. We have live chat. We'll respond personally to every email. But we want to hear from you. Let it rip. We're ready! Thanks again, and happy hunting!
Dan Chuparkoff
I really love this idea. I can't wait to get this up and running. I feel like my software has been going to Prod in a Continuous Delivery way for a decade now. But my release information is still stuck in 1999! Thanks, LaunchNotes!
Jake Brereton
Maker
Even though 1999 was an epic year for New Year's parties, not a great place to keep your release information, @chuparkoff. Excited you've now got an easy solution! 🚀 We'd love your thoughts and feedback as you're getting going. Feel free to reach out to the founders anytime at hey[at]launchnotes.io. 🙌🏼
Dan Chuparkoff
@jakebrereton Two questions guys:
Dan Chuparkoff
@jakebrereton Does this allow you to track what customers receive which of the updates?
Dan Chuparkoff
@jakebrereton Is this designed for internal teams to stay in sync or for your end users to find out what is new?
Tyler Davis
Maker
@jakebrereton @chuparkoff we keep track of who is not only subscribed to each category, but what notifications they receive from the individual release's perspective as well as the category's perspective. We're not doing a great job of surfacing this information right now, but the long term goal is to provide insights into not only how your release comms are performing, but how impactful the underlying changes are. We believe with this kind of retrospective analysis, you'll be able to make much more educated decisions for future product comms and even product decisions!
James Cooke
After trialling what seemed like every single release/changelog/status update tool out there we finally came across LaunchNotes....if only we found you guys sooner! For us the biggest win was being able to integrate project dependent status updates into our own product using their Graph API ( ❤️ Graph btw). Plus having public pages and email subscriptions helps keep our user base in the loop when they're not logged in. Nice. I do like the concept of internal releases too, coming from a Confluence background I always found keeping up-to-date with other platform/product releases a massive pain, so being able to line this up in one spot should go a long way to reducing the amount of grey hairs I've been accumulating. Thanks team, keep up the good work and looking forward to see where you take this next ( JIRA integration wink wink) ✌🏼
Jake Brereton
Maker
Really appreciate the kind words, @james_cooke1! 🙏🏼 We're stoked that you and your teams are loving the service, and also that you're taking full advantage of our Graph API. I suppose the fact that LaunchNotes is cutting down on your gray hairs is also a reason to celebrate! 👴🏻🍾 Definitely stay tuned for some project tracking integrations. Or, better yet, be kept up-to-date on the progress of that work in real-time by subscribing to our team's launchnotes page: https://updates.launchnotes.io/ 😎 Thanks again for the support! 🙌🏼
Steve Klein
@james_cooke1 @jakebrereton yeah as a PM I've spent so much time sending additional emails to keep other stakeholders in the org in the loop and just directing them to subscribe to internal posts should save a ton of time
Tyler Davis
Maker
@james_cooke1 @jakebrereton @stevenklein This is probably the biggest complaint we've heard from the PMs we're working with. Keeping track of stake holders for each project in flight is next to impossible, because it's not always the right time to loop people in at the very beginning of projects or at the end (because it's too late). Multiply that by the number of active projects a PM has at any given time and you begin to see just how challenging that becomes.
Justine Davis
Product marketers dream. So helpful. Looking forward to having this integrated with Jira so I can have all my updates in one spot.
Jake Brereton
Maker
Yes, @justine_davis! 💯 Coming from a Product Marketing background myself, LaunchNotes really does solve such an acute pain point. I've been using it to send targeted outreach to our beta customers for feedback, as well as tease new things we're working on to get users excited prior to release. And on a launch day like today it's fantastic because I don't have to spin up a ton of separate comms elsewhere! 🙌🏼 Let me know if you need help or support in setting up an account. We're here and would be happy to assist. Would also welcome your thoughts and feedback as you get going. Reach us anytime at hey[at]launchnotes.io. 📧 Thanks so much for the support! 🙏🏼
Chelsea Davis
@justine_davis Yes! The scariest thing for a marketer to hear on Slack is "xxx feature is getting shipped tomorrow" and having no idea. eeek!
Matt Hodges
Top Product
Congrats on the launch, @jakebrereton @tylermdavis @computer_smile! We're excited over here at Loom about how LaunchNotes will help us keep not just our customers, but our teams internally, aware of all the changes we're making to our product. I'm particularly interested to see the level of engagement with our public page and what customers end up subscribing to. Bonus points if you can get us an Intercom Messenger app so we make the latest changes and improvements to Loom even more discoverable (just like we do with StatusPage). ;)
Jake Brereton
Maker
We really appreciate your continued support, @mattnhodges! Loom was one of our earliest beta customers and we're super stoked that you all have found it so helpful in keeping everyone aligned. We're honored to have your team onboard! 🙏🏼 And bonus points challenge accepted! 💪🏼 We've got a long list of integration requests piling up and Intercom Messenger is definitely creeping up that list :) To stay up-to-date on our integration roadmap, I'd recommend subscribing to our launchnotes page: https://updates.launchnotes.io. You'll receive a notification the moment any of that work goes into planning! 😎 Thanks again, mate! 🙌🏼
Shirley McLaughlin
awesome and very needed today!
Jason Mueller
@shirley_mclaughlin I agree with Shirley.
Kyle Powers ⓜⓕⓚⓟ
@shirley_mclaughlin @jasonmueller I also concur with Shirley and Jason.
John McKiernan
Love this! Can't tell you how many times I have harassed devs to find out what is shipping and when so I can let customers know. This solves a massive problem for me. Would love to see a Jira & Github integration in the future. Keep it coming!
Jake Brereton
Maker
As the saying goes: Happy devs, happy life, @john_mckiernan! To achieve that, we never recommend harassing anyone on the Engineering team :) Definitely give LaunchNotes a try and let us know what you think. We'd be all ears for your feedback, and to see if it helps you out. Regarding integrations with Jira and/or GitHub, they're definitely on our radar and something we're researching now. To stay up-to-date on our integration roadmap, I'd recommend subscribing to our launchnotes page: https://updates.launchnotes.io. You'll receive a notification the moment any of that work goes into planning! 😎 In the meantime, we really appreciate your support! 🙏🏼
Steve Klein
I've seen lots of companies build their own light-weight version of something similar but this seems like a no-brainer for any company looking for an easier way to keep customers in-the-loop about what you're building and when it's launching. Looks great!
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks so much, @stevenklein! 💪🏼 The way we see it, your teams have WAY more important things to be doing than building internal tooling, especially for something like this. We've even added in a free tier so that better release comms is easy for small teams and startups to get going on. We think you're going to love LaunchNotes. Definitely let us know what you think, and thanks for the support! 🙏🏼
Steve Klein
@jakebrereton yeah for sure definitely doesn't make sense to spend time building/maintaining your own
Avi Flombaum
Super cool - this has been such a pain point internally in every organization I've been at! Looks great!
Tyler Davis
Maker
@aviflombaum It's one of those things that so many people have just gotten used to. But now that teams are shipping so much, so fast, it's starting to resurface in new, more disruptive ways. Thanks for the support. You are legend!
Avi Flombaum
@tylermdavis Ya, I mean it goes even beyond product/shipping, just even business processes, salesforce workflows, in a fast moving organization a change in how you file Reimbursement Claims can get missed and have an adverse effect. So I'm excited to keep people updated not just about a shiny new feature but about changes.
Tyler Davis
Maker
@aviflombaum That's a fair call out. We're super focused on software change right now, because that's what we understand the most, but change in all forms, when trying to communicate it out to a large audience is really difficult.
Jarrod Baker
60% of my job is chasing down my colleagues for updates. As a cross-functional marketer I'm solely reliant on partnership and collaboration and anything that can help me efficiently get the updates I need to keep moving is a lifesaver. This sounds like the tool I need!
Tyler Davis
Maker
@jarrod_baker our primary mission is improving relationships across teams. LaunchNotes is the first step in accomplishing that. I'd love to get on a Zoom to hear more about the challenges your team is facing, if you're up for it!
Porush Puri
Hi @jakebrereton @tylermdavis @computer_smile I really loved the idea and it definitely fills a huge gap that exist in this industry! Really looking forward to it's application, branding is dope! Also, would love to feature it on my Instagram handle and would love to have on my Business Podcast as guest which will expose it to Indian masses! Looking forward to your reply! Please drop in your email address if interested! Thanks
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks, @porush_puri! Appreciate the kind words on the product and glad you're digging the branding :) We'd welcome the opportunity to be featured on both your Instagram handle and your podcast. Feel free to shoot us an email at hey[at]launchnotes.io and one of us will get back with you right away. Thanks again!
EJ Atamian
Love this idea! This goes a long way to creating more transparency across the team and making everyone more productive because they have the information they need. Having one place where all updates and announcements can live cuts down on back and forth between teams so everyone can focus on the bigger picture. Awesome work LaunchNotes !
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks, @ej_atamian! Really glad what we're doing with LaunchNotes is resonating with you! 🙌🏼 Let us know if you want to take it for a spin. We'd love your thoughts and feedback. And all Product Hunters can get 50% off their first 6 months! If you have any questions or concerns as you're getting going, reach the founders anytime at hey[at]launchnotes.io. Thanks again for the support! 🙏🏼
Dan Crocker
This sounds like a phenomenal approach to keeping employees in the loop on new products / product changes across multiple teams, saving time and building efficiency. Additionally, having the most up-to-date information at your fingertips that you would normally need to get from chasing down multiple teams will drastically improve client experience.
Tyler Davis
Maker
Thanks a bunch, @dan_crocker. Half the the battle is getting the right updates in front of the right people. The other side of the coin is managing the context you need when it comes time to, a: understanding what's going on and b: communicating your progress out to customer. Thanks for the note!
Patrick Thompson
This looks great! @jakebrereton I wish we had something like this when building out our public roadmap for Jira. Glad to see that this finally exists and looking forward to giving it a go.
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks a ton, @patrickt010 And yes, building public roadmaps on a quarterly basis (and then trying to keep them up-to-date) is a huge drag. Ain't nobody got time for that! We're hoping our public release stream is the perfect solution to that. 😎 Appreciate you coming to support us on launch day, and let me know if you or the https://iterative.ly/ team need any help as you all get going! Thanks again! 🙏🏼
Brandon Wilcox
There’s nothing more important for a business than good, clear and timely communication. excited to explore the possibilities Of implementing this!
Jake Brereton
Maker
Couldn't agree more, @brandon_wilcox! Appreciate the note and support. As you begin your implementation, definitely let us know if we can be of any assistance: hey[at]launchnotes.io. We're here and happy to help! 🙌🏼
Stephanie Yackley
This is such a great tool! I wish Apple used it with their updates. Would save a lot of time for many of us. Good luck! This is awesome!
Jake Brereton
Maker
Thanks a ton, @stephanie_yackley! Really appreciate the kind words and validation. 🙏🏼 We'd love to give anyone at Apple a demo anytime, so just let us know :) You can reach the three founders directly at hey[at]launchnotes.io if you have any other questions or concerns. Thanks again!
Marc Reisen
Congrats on the launch y'all! Wonderful to see some fellow Atlassians on here! @jakebrereton What would you say has been your most challenging and least challenging part of LaunchNotes when it comes to bringing your community along on your product release journey? This can go for both internal and external release notes.
Jake Brereton
Maker
Really appreciate the note and thoughtful question, @marcreisen! What we've heard in our interviews, as well as been working quite a bit with our beta customers on, is really nailing the internal hand-offs that need to happen prior to a code change being delivered to customers. The ability to communicate early and often with customers is a must, and LaunchNotes does a phenomenal job of that. But internally teams often have a LOT of internal stakeholders who need specific updates at very specific times. And every organization is different. Right now we've built in a categorization and subscription system that solves for this, but in the coming weeks we're going to supplement this functionality with some internal guardrails and best practices that will help guide teams to success with these internal hand-offs. So it's a big challenge, but an even bigger opportunity. And we're excited to help our users solve it! 🙌🏼 By the way, we're big fans of Matter! Keep up the great work over there. 😎 Thanks again for the love and support! 🙏🏼
Marc Reisen
@jakebrereton Thanks for the great follow up and answer. At Matter we just recently started doing our own external release notes. We still manage to have internal updates - as that can often contain internal nomenclature, or updates that are less feature specific to the customer. Our external notes end up being a little more user facing.
Wilson Hambrick
Realtime communication is going to be of even greater importance for teams working separately and remotely moving forward in this current climate. Looks great guys and the intro video is well done !
Tyler Davis
Maker
@wilson_ham Realtime communication coupled with optimizing your team's signal to noise ratio so that everybody can get the updates that they need and nothing else is what we're trying hard to accomplish. Thanks so much for the kind words!
Manmin Angela Guo
LaunchNotes ALSO brings values to developers by keeping us in the know of how a small feature we worked on is advertised or received. Developers own the product and naturally care a lot about the product, but even companies with dev-centric values do not embed systems to keep developers involved in the processes happening outside of heads-down development (e.g. marketing, PR). However, there are apparent business values in keeping developers involved - it gives us customer empathy and product ownership, and that can translate effectively into the product and the dev culture. LaunchNotes will be a good solution to achieve that as it eliminates the need for update meetings and makes it accessible for developers, marketers, PMs, and users to be updated on what's new with the products. I hope more companies will use it.
Tyler Davis
Maker
@guomanmin This is an excellent point and a huge area of focus for us as we build out the product. As a developer, I can very much relate to this. There are a couple areas we want to explore over the coming months, specifically related to building better relationships between developers and their customers - making it easier to share internally (think, easy asynchronous demos) and feedback. As a developer I would LOVE to hear directly from my customers how they are using the features that I built for them, what the overall impact of that work is, what we can do better the next time, etc. Thank you very much for the comment!
Jake Brereton
Maker
You're a legend, @guomanmin! Thank you! 🙏🏼