A Week-by-Week Countdown to Launch

A countdown is a promise to your future self: I will not leave everything to the last minute. This one runs for six weeks, which suits most small products. If you have less time, compress it. The order matters more than the length.

Use it alongside a launch calendar, and write each date in ISO form, year first, so there is no confusion between formats.

T-minus six weeks: decide

This week is about choices, not tasks. You are fixing what the launch is.

Fix the date. Choose a target date and a backup. State the time zone.

Fix the audience. Who is this for? Name one primary group.

Write the one-line pitch. Plain words: who, what job, what changes.

Choose where to launch. A directory, a contest, a forum, an email list, or a mix. Match each to a purpose.

Choose the team. Who owns what? Even if it is only you, write it down.

Set the success measures. Pick two or three numbers that would make you feel it worked: sign-ups, replies, activations. Do not pick revenue as the only measure for a first launch.

At the end of the week you should have a one-page plan.

T-minus five weeks: write

Words first, pictures second.

Draft the launch page copy. Headline, summary, three short paragraphs, call to action.

Write the descriptions you will need elsewhere: long, medium, short.

Write alt text drafts as you plan the images.

Prepare answers to the ten questions you expect.

Check the facts. Names, spellings, claims. Remove anything you cannot defend.

Choose categories and tags with care.

Read everything aloud. Cut one sentence in every paragraph.

T-minus four weeks: make the assets

Product Hunt's preparation guidance lists the core assets: a tagline, a thumbnail, gallery images and a first comment, and notes recommended sizes for its own listings. Even if you launch elsewhere, treat these as your starting kit.

Thumbnail: simple, square, clear at small size.

Tagline: short and without exaggeration.

Gallery images: a sequence that tells a story, with realistic sample data.

Optional video: under a minute, works without sound.

Share image: sized for link previews.

Logo files: in the formats you will need.

Name files descriptively and keep them in one folder.

T-minus three weeks: build

The launch page. A dedicated page that explains the product and gives one clear action.

The sign-up path. Test it end to end with a new account.

Analytics. Install it, set one goal, and tag the links you will share. Decide how you will tell channels apart.

Email sequence. A welcome message and a launch-day message, in plain text if possible.

Legal and policy pages. Terms, privacy, contact details.

Performance. Make sure the pages load quickly. Google's SEO starter guide notes that clear titles and descriptions help people decide whether to click, so give the page a unique title and a concise description now, not on launch morning.

T-minus two weeks: book and brief

Book the slot. Submit your listing or reserve your date where scheduling applies. Queues and slots may have lead times, which is why this step sits two weeks out at the latest, and sooner if a platform's free queue is long.

Brief your helpers. A short note with the date, the time and the ask: look, try, comment honestly. Product Hunt's launch guide says you cannot ask people directly to upvote, and asks makers to invite visits and comments instead.

Confirm dependencies. Anything that relies on someone else: a designer, a partner quote, a payment provider check.

Do a go or no-go review. Are you on track? If not, decide now whether to adjust scope or date. Our article on when to delay explains how.

T-minus one week: test

Dry run the whole path. From the announcement link to a working account, on a clean browser and on a phone.

Click every link.

Test the emails. Check they arrive and render correctly, and that links work.

Load test lightly. Make sure nothing is close to a limit.

Proofread everything. Ask someone who did not write it.

Prepare the run-sheet for launch day: who does what, hour by hour.

Fix what you find. Resist new features. Anything not essential goes on a "later" list.

T-minus three days: freeze

No more changes to the product or the page, except for real faults.

Confirm times with helpers, in their local time zones.

Check your own logistics: food, sleep, a quiet space, a charged phone.

Schedule messages that can be scheduled: reminders and the launch email, with the time zone double-checked.

T-minus one day: rest and verify

Final click-through.

Send the reminder to helpers.

Prepare the first comment.

Sleep. The day ahead is long.

T: launch

Follow your run-sheet. Open the live page as a stranger. Post your first comment. Tell your helpers. Reply to comments promptly. Keep notes.

Our article on the hour-by-hour timeline of launch day gives a fuller run-sheet.

T-plus one day: follow through

Thank people. Save screenshots and data. Write to your sign-ups. Sort the feedback into bugs, confusions and requests. Choose the top three fixes.

T-plus one week: review

Compare the numbers with your measures. Write what worked, what did not and what you would change. Publish a short update on what you fixed. Archive the calendar with notes.

If you only have two weeks

Compress as follows: do the decisions and writing in the first three days, assets in the next four, build and book in the following three, test and freeze in the last four. Cut optional items such as video and extra images. Keep the dry run, because it catches the most expensive mistakes.

If you only have one week

Be ruthless. Fix the pitch, write one page, capture three screenshots, test the sign-up, click every link and brief three people. That is a real launch, if a modest one.

Traps that catch people

• Skipping the decisions week. Every later task suffers.
• Perfecting assets and ignoring the dry run.
• Booking late. Slots fill and queues exist.
• Adding features in the final week.
• Forgetting the day after.
• Working all night before.

A one-page printout

T-6w decide. T-5w write. T-4w assets. T-3w build. T-2w book and brief. T-1w test. T-3d freeze. T-1d verify and rest. T launch. T+1d follow through. T+7d review. Put it on the wall.

On this site

Our calendar page and the upcoming page show what is scheduled. The submit page is where you book, with a launch entry currently $5, skipping the queue at $9 and a free queue of 6-8 weeks, which sets how early you should book. The founders introduce the project on the about-founders page.

Roles across the six weeks

If you share the work, it helps to see who is busiest when. The founder is heaviest in weeks one and two, deciding and writing, and again in the final days, replying. A designer or whoever makes the images is heaviest in week four. A developer is heaviest in weeks three and five. Anyone helping with replies needs a briefing in week two and a rehearsal in week five. Plot these on the calendar so that nobody has three big tasks in the same week. Overload is the most common cause of slipped dates, and it is entirely visible in advance.

What to cut when time runs short

Every countdown meets reality. When a date slips towards you, cut in this order: the video first, then extra gallery images beyond three, then secondary channels, then fine design polish. Protect the pitch, the dry run, the sign-up test and the briefing of helpers. Those four items prevent most of the failures that people remember. If cutting them is the only way to hit the date, the date should move, which is the subject of our article on when delaying is the right call.

Keeping morale up

Six weeks is long enough for energy to dip, usually around the middle. Build small celebrations into the plan: a quick message to the team when the assets are done, a walk when the page goes live in draft, a proper meal after the dry run. Finishing milestones on time feels good and builds the habit of finishing, which is worth more than any single launch.

A short review at the end of each week

At the end of every week, spend five minutes answering three questions in writing: what did I plan to finish, what did I actually finish, and what will I do differently next week? The answers keep the countdown honest and create a trail you can read after launch. If two weeks in a row show the same shortfall, adjust the plan instead of promising to try harder. Most slips are planning errors, and they are cheap to fix when caught early.

The takeaway

Six weeks, six jobs: decide, write, make, build, book and test, then freeze and rest. Do them in that order, write dates the same way every time and keep the day after in the plan. Launch day then becomes the easy part.