Nobody is coming
A launch is not a moment. It is a 12-week loop of doing slightly embarrassing things in public until strangers pay you. This is the loop we ran for our own products and run alongside clients after we ship theirs.
The order of channels
Run them in this order. Don’t skip ahead; each one feeds the next.
- Direct outreach (weeks 1–4). You, personally, talking to people who have the problem. Not marketing. Selling.
- Communities (weeks 2–8). Where your users already gather. Contribute first, mention second.
- Content and SEO (weeks 3–12+). Compounding. Slow. Start early.
- One paid channel (week 8+). Only after 1–3 show something is working.
Channel 1: Direct outreach
Build a list of 200 people who match your One-Job Statement. LinkedIn, Twitter/X, communities, past customers, your inbox. Real names.
The message (under 60 words, no links in the first one):
Hi [name]. I built a small tool that does [outcome] for [user] when [trigger]. You’re clearly deep in [their context]. Would you be up for a 15-minute look this week? Happy to just give it to you free for a month for honest feedback.
Cadence: 20 messages a day. Follow up once after 3 days, once after 7. Stop after that.
Expected: 200 messages → 40 replies → 15 calls → 5 paying customers. Your numbers will differ; the ratios tell you what to fix.
On the call: ask three questions before you show anything. “How do you do this today?” “What is annoying about it?” “What would need to be true for you to pay for a better way?” Then demo the one thing that answers question three.
Channel 2: Communities
Pick three communities: one broad (Reddit, Indie Hackers, a big Slack), one niche (a Discord or forum for your exact user), one local or professional (a LinkedIn group, a meetup).
Rules:
- Spend two weeks answering questions with zero mentions of your product.
- Then, one build-in-public post a week: what you learned, what broke, a number.
- Mention the product only when someone asks or when it is the literal answer to their question.
- Every reply you get is a person for the outreach list.
Channel 3: The content engine
One input a week, eight outputs. The input is a real conversation from channels 1 and 2.
| Input | Outputs |
|---|---|
| One customer call or community thread | 1 blog post answering the exact question (SEO), 1 LinkedIn post, 3 X posts, 1 newsletter section, 1 FAQ entry on your site, 1 short video or screenshot walkthrough |
Blog post rules for search and AI answers:
- Title is the question people type. “How much does X cost in 2026?” beats “Our thoughts on pricing”.
- Answer in the first 60 words. Then go deep.
- Include a table or a numbered list; AI answer engines quote those.
- Link to your product once, where it is the honest answer.
Ship one a week for 12 weeks. Traffic starts around week 8 and compounds.
Channel 4: Paid (only if…)
Turn on one paid channel (Google Search on problem keywords, or a niche newsletter sponsorship) only when both of these are true:
- Activation rate > 40% (signups who reach the core value)
- Trial-to-paid > 10% or you have five customers who renewed
If either is false, paid traffic will just make a leaky bucket leak faster. Fix the product first.
Start at $50/day. Kill it if cost per paying customer is more than 6 months of their subscription after two weeks.
The weekly scorecard
Fill this in every Friday. Twelve rows gets you to 100 customers if the ratios hold.
| Week | Outreach sent | Calls | Signups | Activated | Paid (new) | Paid (total) | One learning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||||
| … |
If a number is flat two weeks running, change one thing about that step. Not everything. One thing.
Things that feel like work but aren’t
- Redesigning the landing page before 20 sales calls
- Setting up an affiliate program at 8 customers
- Posting on 9 platforms
- Building the feature the one prospect who didn’t buy asked for
- Waiting for Product Hunt
What to do next
Write the 200-person list today. Send 20 messages tomorrow. If you want a partner who ships the product and stays for the launch loop, that is exactly what we do.