Launching an AI tool: the week-by-week checklist

A launch is not a day. The work that decides how it goes happens in the weeks before, and most of the value — search traffic, a page people link to, a badge on your site — arrives after. This is the order we would do it in.

Three weeks out

• Pick your week. A free launch on LaunchFill takes a week three weeks out; add our badge to your site and it can be one week out. Avoid weeks when your own team is away: you will want to answer people.
• Make the product usable without you. Sign-up works, the first screen explains itself, the free tier (if you have one) does something real. Reviewers — and visitors — judge the first two minutes.
• Write the listing — name, tagline, description, category, pricing. Write a listing people click goes through it field by field.
• Submit. Review is done by a person; submitting early leaves room for a correction if something is unclear.

One week out

• Prepare what you will link to. A short demo video or a few screenshots, and a changelog or "what's new" page if you are relaunching.
• Set your preview image. It is the picture at the top of your tool page, and what shows when the page is shared.
• Tell your users the date. The people who already like the product are the ones who will look for it on launch day. A line in your newsletter or release notes is enough.

Launch Monday

• Your launch goes live at 00:00 UTC. Nothing to click. Check your tool page: logo, text, link.
• Share the board link, not only your own page: "we're on this week's board" reads as news, and people browse the other launches too.
• Answer everyone. Emails, replies, DMs. The first day's questions are your best product research this quarter.
• Don't buy or trade votes. The board is ranked by votes cast during the week; the people who vote are the ones who might use it.

During the week

The board runs until Sunday 24:00 UTC, so a Wednesday post in a community where your users are is not late. Keep a note of what people ask and what they compare you with.

After the week

• The ranking freezes and moves to the archive. A top-three finish gets a winner's badge: put it on your site, it links back to that week's board.
• Your tool page stays. Keep it current from My tools — logo, tags and preview update at once; text edits get a quick review.
• Your alternatives page lists the tools people compare you with. When you ship something that changes the comparison, update your tags and description so the page says so.

A launch week is a start. The listing that keeps working is the one that stays accurate.