HomeFind your caseWe have a launch coming and nothing to show for it
Case · Production
A common situation · not a client storyWe have a launch coming and nothing to show for it.
Organisations with a launch date (a product, a fund, a new entity) that need films, landing pages and outreach ready at the same time.
What you're probably seeing
If this sounds familiar, you're in the right place.
- The launch date is set, and nothing visual exists yet.
- Film, pages and emails are with different people, and don't match.
- Nobody has decided what a visitor should do on launch day.
- Sign-ups or letters of interest have nowhere to go.
- The message changes with every meeting.
The usual ways out
What teams usually try. Each works somewhere. None works everywhere.
| The way | Works when | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| An agency for everything | Budget and time allow | Expensive, and slow to change |
| Freelancers for each piece | Someone can coordinate them | Pieces don't match, and the coordinator burns out |
| Launch with a simple page and add later | The date matters more than the polish | First impressions are hard to redo |
| Stock footage and templates | Speed beats distinction | Looks like everyone else's launch |
| One small team for film, pages and outreach | Everything must match and ship on one date | Needs decisions made quickly |
| Move the date | The launch can wait | Rarely possible, and momentum fades |
What other companies did. Their published results, not ours.
We read each company's own write-up and asked one question: would our diagnostic's tests have led to the same call? We judge the approach, not the result.
| Company | What they did | What they published | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ResendDeveloper email company; team size not stated. Launch week of five features, one per day. | The team picked a visual theme, built a micro-site for the week and hired an illustration studio. They shot the feature videos themselves at a team offsite with a tripod, a basic mic and natural light. Each day shipped a blog post, a social post, a video, a waitlist email and a detail thread, with sign-ups going through a double opt-in waitlist. | 45% more impressions than the previous launch week, as of writing. They say they judge launch weeks on impressions and usage, not revenue.They noted: This was their first launch week with video, and the videos reached a wider audience, which they credit mostly to YouTube. Double opt-in kept waitlist emails valid and protected domain reputation. | Launch Week: Behind the ScenesApr 2025 |
| StatsigExperimentation platform; size not stated. Third Product Hunt launch (Session Replay), after launches in 2021 and 2023. | Spent two weeks preparing screenshots, branded images and a short product video, with a 'Coming Soon' page and posts on X and LinkedIn. Launched at 12:01 AM and staffed comment replies in shifts, with employees and customers asked to join in. | Day rank #8 on Product Hunt (earlier launches ranked #14 and #34); follower count tripled; #2 SaaS product of the week.They noted: Launch 1 was left alone for much of the day and lost momentum. Launch 2 went live hours early through a bug or user error, nobody on the team knew, and it got little engagement. | A startup's guide to launching on Product HuntJun 2024 |
| Fundamental Research Labs (Shortcut)Startup launching its Shortcut product; size not stated. | Made a simple launch video of about two minutes, with the founder on screen briefly and more than half of it a product walkthrough. They planned it by working back from the launch story at least three weeks ahead. | About 4.1M impressions on X and over 5k likes on LinkedIn; a follow-up video drew about 3.5M impressions.They noted: Keep the video simple and product-focused rather than cinematic. The founder treats the launch as a tool, not the goal. | How to Make a Viral Launch VideoAug 2025 · investor story |
| Daylight Computer CompanyHardware startup launching the DC-1; size not stated. | The company did not just pay a production company and direct from afar; two team members were closely involved in making the launch video. The founder credits a carefully made website alongside it. | Not stated.They noted: It took roughly 100-hour weeks for a few weeks. The founder credits a tasteful, well-made video combined with a beautiful website for communicating an ethos, and advises being actively involved in making the video. | How to Make a Viral Launch VideoAug 2025 |
Our read
Same call. The launches that held together kept film, pages and outreach close to the company's own team, working from one story, which is where our tests would lead.
Resend's own team ran the theme, micro-site, self-shot videos, daily posts and a double opt-in waitlist, with an outside illustration studio, which covers our checks on what must exist and where sign-ups go. Fundamental Research Labs worked back from the launch story at least three weeks out, close to agreeing the one-sentence message first. Statsig's own lessons show where launches slip: one launch was left alone for much of the day and another went live early with nobody watching, which is the 'who answers on the day' test. Daylight's shoot, with two team members closely involved, took roughly 100-hour weeks for a few weeks, so we would also check what can be filmed with the people and places at hand.
What we would test first: List what must exist on launch day, and what can follow later.
What the diagnostic would test
The tests that rule the wrong ways out.
On your own systems and data, read-only first. The number of tests sets the diagnostic's price, quoted before it starts.
- 1
What must exist on launch day, and what can follow.
- 2
The one action you want every visitor to take.
- 3
The message in one sentence, agreed by whoever decides.
- 4
Where sign-ups go, and who answers them.
- 5
What can be filmed with the people and places you have.
This week, without us
Three things you can do yourself.
- 1
Write the one sentence a visitor should remember, and get it signed off.
- 2
List what must be live on the day, and cut everything else to 'after'.
- 3
Decide where every sign-up lands, and who replies within a day.
Sound like you? Bring it to a 30-minute call. We'll tell you which tests your case needs, and what they cost.
This page describes what teams in this situation commonly face. It is not a client story.