The order that works
How to launch a SaaS product
The launch sequence for a web product you charge for: pricing, the first paying customers, launch week and the channels that keep working afterwards.
List your productFree · Permanent · Ship on a Tuesday
A SaaS launch is different from an app launch in one way that changes everything: there is no store, no review queue and no ranking algorithm deciding whether anybody sees you. Nothing happens unless you make it happen, and nothing stops you launching on a Tuesday because you feel like it — which is why most SaaS launches are badly sequenced rather than badly promoted. The order that works starts before launch week. Know who the first ten customers are by name. Decide pricing before launch rather than after, because free users are a different population from paying ones and converting them later is its own project. Then build the pages a web product is found and evaluated through, because for a SaaS those pages are the launch. Launch day is a one-day window; the channels that compound afterwards are what you are actually building.
What makes a SaaS launch different
Three things an app launch has that a web product does not, and every one of them is a thing that would otherwise have moved people toward you on its own.
There is no store
No shelf to be on, no listing somebody else renders for you, no install button you do not own. A web product is found and evaluated through its own pages, so those pages are the launch.
There is no review queue
Nobody can reject you and nothing can move your date. You can ship on Tuesday and change it on Wednesday, and that is the actual advantage you have.
There is no ranking algorithm
Nothing decides whether anybody sees you. That freedom is the reason the sequence below matters: nothing happens unless you make it happen, in an order you chose.
The sequence, in order
Each step assumes the one before it. The first two happen before there is anything to launch.
Before anything: know who the first ten customers are, by name
Not a persona. Ten actual people or companies you could email today, who have the problem, and who you could plausibly get to try the thing. If you cannot write that list, the launch is not the problem — a launch spreads a message through people who already care, and if nobody yet does there is nothing to spread.
Decide pricing before launch, not after
Free trial or free tier, not both: a trial suits a product somebody evaluates once and commits to, a free tier suits one that gets more useful the longer it is used. Pick a number and put it on the page. Charge from the first week if you can — the first payment tells you more than a hundred sign-ups.
Build the pages, because for a SaaS the pages are the launch
A home page that says the job rather than the category, a pricing page, documentation, a comparison page if you have obvious competitors, and a changelog. Five pages, listed below with what each one is for.
Launch week: be present the same day
Email the ten people individually, post where the problem is discussed rather than where founders hang out, take the boards that fit, and answer everything the same day. It is a one-day window in which strangers tell you what is wrong with your product for free.
The pages you need before launch week
A SaaS product is found and evaluated through pages, so these are the launch.
A home page that says what it does in the first sentence
Not the category ("modern collaboration for teams") — the job ("turn your standup notes into a weekly summary your manager will actually read"). This is the one page that works when nothing else has been read.
A pricing page, even at one plan
Pick a number and put it on it. "Contact us" on a small SaaS is a form nobody fills in, and you cannot get back the people who left because they could not tell whether it was for them.
Documentation, or at least a getting-started page
For anything technical this is the page that closes the sale and the page search engines actually rank.
One comparison page, if you have obvious competitors
"X vs Y" is a search people make with their credit card already out.
A changelog
Cheap to keep, and it is the evidence that the product is alive — which is the first thing a stranger evaluating a small SaaS is trying to determine.
Launch week
Five places, in the order they are worth your morning. The first one on the list is not the first one that works.
Email the ten people by name, individually
And email your list, if you have one. The individual emails will outperform everything else on this list, which is annoying and consistently true.
Post where the problem is discussed, not where founders hang out
The subreddit for the job your customers do beats the subreddit for building startups, every time.
Show HN, if there is a technical angle
Plain title, honest first comment. Free, and it happens the moment you post.
The launch boards
Product Hunt if the audience matches; otherwise there is a page comparing the alternatives by what each is good at. For a B2B product, expect sign-ups rather than customers.
Answer everything the same day
Launch traffic is a one-day window in which strangers will tell you what is wrong with your product for free.
The month after: the channels that compound
Launch traffic goes to zero. What replaces it is one or two of these, and it is worth choosing rather than doing all of them badly.
Search, which is the slowest to start, so start it in month one
For SaaS this is usually the largest long-term channel. It means pages that answer the questions your customers type before they know you exist, and it takes months.
Comparison and directory listings
Being present where people are already deciding. There is a list worth working through rather than doing in one afternoon.
Integrations
Being listed in another product’s marketplace is a channel with a shape most people underuse: their users have already proved they have the problem.
Writing about the specific thing you know
Not content marketing in general — the one operational thing you learned building this, which nobody else can write.
Where this site fits
The compounding kind of work rather than the launch kind, which is the half that is still there in month three.
A permanent page for your product, and a link that passes
WhatAreYouBuilding.AI is a free, worldwide directory of what independent builders are shipping: AI, SaaS and dev tools, by country, category and funding stage. Your product gets a page of its own and a do-follow link to your site. Every submission is reviewed before it appears, and listing is free.
Queryable by agents, which is the part that keeps growing
A listing is visible to the assistants people increasingly ask instead of searching — "what tools are there for X" is a question that now gets typed into a model as often as into a search box.
Questions people actually ask
The pricing ones, and the four mistakes that show up most, asked the way they are actually asked.
Free trial or free tier?
One, not both — and which one depends on how the product earns its keep:
- A trial suits a product somebody evaluates once and commits to.
- A free tier suits a product that gets more useful the longer it is used, and where usage grows into a reason to pay.
Should I launch free and add pricing later?
That is the instinct, and it is usually the more expensive path. Free users are a different population from paying ones, they give different feedback, and converting them later is its own project. Charge from the first week if you can: the first payment tells you more than a hundred sign-ups.
Can I put "Contact us" instead of a price?
On a small SaaS that is a form nobody fills in. Pick a number and put it on the page. You can change the number later; you cannot get back the people who left because they could not tell whether it was for them.
Where should I post during launch week?
Where the problem is discussed, not where founders hang out. The subreddit for the job your customers do beats the subreddit for building startups, every time. Launching to founders instead of customers is the mistake that shows up most, because that audience is easier to reach and gives warmer feedback.
The launch was quiet. Should I rebuild?
Usually not. A quiet launch usually means the message was wrong or the room was wrong, and rebuilding fixes neither. Launch day is the start of the measurement, not the end of the work — so the thing to change first is who you said it to.
Should I wait until the product is ready?
Waiting for the product to be ready is one of the mistakes that shows up most. It is a web app; you can ship on Tuesday and change it on Wednesday, and that is the actual advantage you have over anybody shipping through a store.
The pages this one points at
The launch half, the compounding half, and the two checks worth running.
List the product somewhere that is still there in month three
A permanent page, a do-follow link, and a catalogue agents can query.