| name | launch-it |
| description | Plan a developer launch (Show HN, Reddit, Product Hunt) that earns goodwill instead of a flaming. Use when the founder is sitting on a launch out of fear, wants to "go viral," or is about to post a press-release-style announcement to a developer community. |
Launch it
Developer communities reward the honest, technical, slightly humble builder and punish the marketer instantly. A Show HN is not an announcement. It's "I built this thing, here's how it works and what's still rough."
Use this when: you're scared to launch, you're hoping to "go viral," or you're about to drop marketing copy into a room that eats marketing copy for breakfast.
The core idea
The bar is usefulness + honesty, not polish. Developers will test your claims and read your code. Show up as a real engineer sharing real work, be present to answer everything, and never, ever fake it. One genuine launch beats ten hype posts.
Framework: Show HN anatomy (Czakon / Tailscale lessons)
- Title: plain, specific, zero hype. "Show HN: A faster Postgres migration tool for large tables", not "🚀 The future of database migrations is HERE."
- First comment = the story (post it yourself, immediately):
- why you built it (the itch, ideally your own),
- how it works (technical, concrete),
- what's genuinely hard/limited right now (honesty buys trust),
- a dead-simple way to try it.
- Be present for hours. Answer every comment, especially the critical ones, technically and without defensiveness. The comment thread is the launch.
- Never astroturf. No vote rings, no sock puppets. Communities detect it and the ban is permanent and public.
Reddit / community launches
- Give before you take. Be a real participant for weeks before you post your thing.
- Read the rules of the specific subreddit; many ban self-promo outright, so find the ones that don't.
- Frame as "I made this to solve X, feedback welcome," not a pitch.
The coordinated moment (not spam)
A launch is one prepared moment across the channels your ICP actually uses (from first-50-users): HN, your own network, and the relevant communities, all on the same day, each tailored to the room. It is not the same copy blasted five places.
Decision tree: are you ready to launch?
Can a stranger get to first value in < 1 hour from docs alone (the weekend test)?
├─ NO → don't launch yet. A flood of users who bounce burns the channel and the goodwill.
└─ YES → is your Show HN first-comment written (why/how/limits/try)?
├─ NO → write it first; it matters more than the product page.
└─ YES → launch on a Tue-Thu morning US time, then clear your calendar to reply.
Mistakes that look reasonable
- Hype title: emojis and superlatives on HN get flagged to death.
- Absent founder: posting then leaving; the unanswered thread dies.
- Defensive replies: arguing with critics. Thank them, concede the fair points, note what you'll fix.
- Astroturfing: instant, permanent reputational damage.
- Launching too early: before the weekend test passes, a launch amplifies your weakest moment.
Your next 30 minutes
Built from real dev-tool GTM experience, with frameworks from Adam Frankl (The Developer-Facing Startup) and Jakub Czakon (markepear.dev).
When a framework can't make the call, that's what a human is for: The DevTool GTM Company.
