SaaS launch checklist for your first launch week

A launch sends strangers to your product for a few minutes each. If they hit a waitlist, a broken signup or a page that only describes what you plan to build, the visit is wasted.

• Someone can use the product today. Nukkadly's guidelines accept live software, APIs, developer utilities and honest MVPs, and reject products that exist only as a landing page. Hacker News says the same for Show HN: no landing pages or sign-up pages, only things people can try.
• The first run works without you. Ask someone who has never seen the product to sign up and reach the main result while you watch and say nothing. Fix whatever stops them first.
• Signup asks for as little as possible. The Show HN guidelines ask makers to let people try the thing "ideally without barriers such as signups or emails". If an account is required, consider a demo mode or sample data.
• Pricing is visible. If it's free during the beta, say so on the page. Visitors who can't find a price assume the worst or leave.
• There is a way to reach you. Put a contact email or chat link on the product, plus a few help notes, even rough ones.

Every site asks for nearly the same fields, so write them once, in a single document, and adapt each field to each form's limit.

• Product name. Just the name. Product Hunt's own guide says no taglines or emoji in the name field.
• Tagline. One plain line that says what it does and for whom. Product Hunt allows 60 characters, Nukkadly allows 120. Writing to 60 lets you reuse it almost everywhere. The guide to writing a launch tagline and description covers this in detail.
• Short and long descriptions. A sentence or two for small fields, a few short paragraphs for the long ones. Nukkadly's description field takes 40 to 2,000 characters.
• The job it does. Nukkadly asks "What job does it solve?" in up to 200 characters, for example "Help freelancers send invoices in under 2 minutes". Writing this line also sharpens your tagline.
• Screenshots. Nukkadly needs at least one gallery image and takes up to six. Show the product doing its main job, not the marketing site.
• A short demo video, if you have one. Nukkadly accepts YouTube or Loom links. A one-minute screen recording beats a polished trailer that hides the interface.
• Category, pricing model and stage. Pick the honest ones. On Nukkadly a "beta" stage label sets expectations better than claiming "live" and getting confused feedback.
• A first comment or maker note. Two or three sentences on why you built it and what kind of feedback you want. Nukkadly has a maker introduction field of up to 1,500 characters.

Link rules differ by site. Product Hunt's launch guide says it doesn't accept shortened links or tracking links such as UTM parameters. Paste the clean URL wherever a site asks for one, and use your analytics referrer report to see which site sent which visitors.

Choose a few places your users already read instead of every site at once. Our lists of product launch websites, places to launch an AI tool, a developer tool or a Chrome extension sort the options by audience.

Timing matters most on boards with a short window. Product Hunt ranks a 24-hour day. Nukkadly runs a Monday to Sunday UTC week, so a product that goes live on Wednesday competes until Sunday and a Monday start gives you the longest run. Any maker can schedule a launch day up to 8 weeks ahead for free. Listings go live only after review, so submit early enough to leave time for that.

Space your launches out over a few weeks if you can. Replying well in two places beats replying badly in eight.

Day one

• Check the listing is live and every link works, including in a private window.
• Add the launch badge to your homepage or README if the site gives one. Every approved Nukkadly listing gets a "Live on Nukkadly" embed.
• Tell the people who already know you: your email list, beta users, a short post on the accounts you already use. Tell them what you made and ask them to try it.
• Don't ask anyone to upvote. Hacker News says plainly that asking friends to upvote or comment is not OK, and Nukkadly's guidelines ban vote buying, brigading and coordinated fake accounts. On Nukkadly, accounts younger than 7 days also vote at a quarter of the normal weight, so a rush of brand-new accounts does little anyway.

Every day of the week

• Reply to every comment within the day. Answer the question asked, thank people for specific criticism and say what you'll change.
• Keep one running list of what people said. Nukkadly tags comments as useful, confusing, pricing or missing, which gives you four ready-made buckets.
• Watch your own product, not only the board. Look at where new signups drop off and fix the worst step.

Midweek

• Ship one small fix that a commenter asked for, then tell them it's done. Few things earn trust faster in a launch thread.
• If one kind of visitor is clearly more interested than the rest, note who they are. That's where you look for your next users.

Last day

• Thank the people who gave feedback, by name where you can.
• Write down three things: what confused people, what they asked for, and who signed up and came back.

The week ends but the listing doesn't have to go quiet. On Nukkadly a product stays in Browse after its launch week, ranked by votes, feedback and use signals. When you ship something big, post it as a major update from your product's edit page instead of a new listing.

The launch only gives you a first group of people. Turning them into users who stay is the next job, and the guide on getting your first users after a launch picks up from here.

• Launching before anyone can try it. Collect feedback first with a pre-launch feedback round and a set of beta testing questions, then launch.
• Submitting the same text to 30 directories in one afternoon. Generic listings get generic results, and you can't reply in 30 places.
• Paying for votes or upvote groups. It breaks the rules on most boards and tells you nothing about real demand. Nukkadly's Launch Pass buys faster review and a dofollow link, never rank.
• Measuring the week by votes alone. Count people who used the product twice.

Before you submit

• A stranger can sign up and reach the main result without help
• Pricing, or "free during beta", is on the site
• A contact link and a few help notes exist
• The listing kit is written: name, tagline, short and long description, job it does, screenshots, demo, category, stage, maker note
• Clean URLs, no shortened or tracking links where a site forbids them
• Two to four launch sites picked, with dates

During the week

• Badge added, existing audience told, no vote requests
• Every comment answered the same day
• Feedback logged in one list
• One requested fix shipped and announced

After the week

• Thank-you notes sent
• Lessons written down
• Next update planned for the same listing

When the kit is ready, submit your product to Nukkadly. Review is free, and you can read how ranking works before you pick a day.