The Startup Launch Stack
The startup launch stack is the set of tools a founder uses across the four stages of a launch: Validate, Build audience, Launch day and First customers. Pick tools for the stage you are in, not all at once.
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Why a stack, not a list
Most lists of launch tools put a survey app, a screen recorder and an invoicing tool in one pile, as if launching were one task. A launch happens in order, and each stage asks for different tools.
Adopt tools by stage
Start with what the current stage needs. A payment tool can wait until someone is ready to pay you.Stay on free plans until launch
Many tools for the first two stages have a free plan. Pay for one once it does work you would otherwise do by hand.Start the audience first
People take the longest to gather, so the signup page goes up as soon as you commit to the idea, long before the product is ready.
Want every tool in one long read? The 25 best product launch tools sorts them by the same four stages.
Validate
Prove someone wants it before you build too much. The cheapest launch mistake to fix is the one you catch before writing code.
The question
Is this a real problem people will pay to solve?
Look for proof in what people do: what they search for, what they complain about, and whether they leave an email or pay when you describe the product.
Done when
- You can state the problem in customers' words
- Strangers took an action, not just said yes
- You know who would pay for it
See whether people search for the problem
Search interest over time shows whether a problem is growing, steady or fading, and which words people use for it.
Read what people already complain about
A complaint in a public thread is the problem in the customer's own words, before you ask a single question. F5Bot emails you when your keywords come up on Reddit, Hacker News or Lobsters.
Tools:F5BotReddit searchAsk questions, then book the interviews
A short survey finds the people who have the problem, and a booking link turns the best answers into calls.
Put up a door and count who knocks
Describe the product as if it exists, add a signup form and count how many strangers leave an email. That is a fake door test.
Tools:LaunchListCarrd
With LaunchList
Put the page up today and let the signups answer the question
Describe the product before it exists on a launch page, then count who joins.
See which post brought the people who joined
The campaign tags on a link stay with every signup it brings, so Signups can show one link at a time.
LaunchList Analytics for Panful, a meal planning app nobody has built yet: 151 signups in the last 28 days, and 12.2% of the 1,236 visits to its page signed up. Signups narrowed to UTM source reddit shows 58 people came from that one post.
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Build audience
Collect the people who want it before launch day. It is the easiest stage to skip, and it decides how launch day goes.
The question
Who will be there on launch day?
Offer a place to join, a reason to keep reading and a reason to invite a friend. Every signup you collect now is someone you can tell on the day.
Done when
- People you have never met are signing up
- Some signups bring a friend with them
- The list hears from you regularly
Put up a place to join
One page with one clear promise and one form, or a signup form added to your existing site.
Tools:LaunchListCarrdFramerWrite to the list while you build
Short notes on what you shipped keep people interested, so the launch email is not the first one they get from you. Kit is free for up to 10,000 subscribers.
Build in public
Posting your progress where your buyers read brings strangers to your signup page. List the product on launch.li while you build, so people browsing what is coming can find it.
Give early fans somewhere to talk
A small community gives the most interested people a place to ask questions, try early builds and tell you what is missing.
Tool:Discord
With LaunchList
Turn every signup into someone who brings a friend
Everyone who joins holds a numbered spot and a share link, and climbs when a friend they refer confirms.
Fill the same list from the site you already run
Embed a form or popup in pages you already have, and those signups land on the same list.
A phone with the page a new signup sees after joining Sunmill Bakery: You're on the Sunmill waitlist. They hold number 285 of 285, and a Share your link card says one friend joining moves them to about number 91, with their link sunmill.launchlist.page/?ref=N4QX7RWB.
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Launch day
Concentrate the attention you earned into one spike. Tell your list first, then spread the launch platforms over several weeks instead of betting on one day.
The question
Where will the attention come from?
Start with the people who already know you: your list, your followers, your community. Launch platforms add strangers on top of them.
Done when
- Your list heard about it first
- Each platform got a day of its own
- Every new signup landed on one list
Pick the boards to launch on
Start on launch.li, our directory of products before launch. Product Hunt is free to launch on, and smaller boards such as Uneed and BetaList each bring their own crowd, so give each its own day.
Post where builders try new things
Show HN on Hacker News is for something people can try. Its guidelines call signup pages off topic, so post there once the product runs.
Tool:Show HNShow the product in a minute
A short demo video or a click-through demo shows what a paragraph cannot, and the same clip works on every platform you post to.
Tools:Screen StudioSupademoTell your list before anyone else
Email the people who asked to hear from you before you post anywhere, so your first visitors are the ones most likely to care.
Tools:LaunchListKit
With LaunchList
Tell everyone waiting in one email, before you post anywhere
The launch email goes to the whole list at once, so the first visitors are your own people.
From the Collect planRun the day from one page
Launch Day holds the countdown, the checklist, ready-made share posts and the Go live button.
From the Launch plan
On opening day LaunchList shows Sunmill Bakery's email We're open sent to 407 of 407 people, and the email itself lands in front: Our online shop is open, Order your first loaf, with an Order now button.
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First customers
Convert the spike into revenue and feedback. What you keep depends on whether people can pay you easily and tell you what is missing.
The question
Will they pay, and will they stay?
Watch your first users closely. Every place they get stuck and every request they send tells you what to fix next.
Done when
- Someone paid without asking you how
- You know where new users give up
- Requests land in one place
Make paying easy
Stripe charges per payment, with no monthly fee. A merchant of record such as Polar sells for you and handles sales tax too.
See where new users get stuck
Product analytics and session replays show the exact step where people give up, so you fix the right screen first.
Collect feedback in one place
A feedback board turns scattered emails and chats into one list, sorted by how many people asked for each thing.
Tools:FeaturebaseCannyWin back people who signed up and left
Lifecycle email follows up on what each person did in your product, not on a calendar, and brings the quiet ones back.
Tools:LoopsCustomer.io
With LaunchList
Open the door a batch at a time
Pick who gets in next from Signups. Each person gets a personal code that works once.
Keep the rest of the list interested
Write to everyone still waiting while the first batch tries the product.
From the Collect plan
LaunchList does not take payments or see what people do inside your product, so this stage needs the tools beside it.
See early access signups, step by stepLaunchList's Invite people panel, set to let in 50 of the 412 people who can be invited right now, as one batch named Shared albums, first 50, with an Invite 50 people button. Each person gets an email with their own code.
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Frequently asked
What is the startup launch stack?
What tools do you need to launch a startup?
How much does a launch tool stack cost?
When should you start building a launch audience?
Is there one tool that covers the whole launch?
Which stage of the launch stack does a waitlist belong to?
Build the audience first
Most of the stack can wait until launch week. Your audience cannot: it grows a little every week, so give it the most time. Put up a signup page the day you commit to the idea.
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