Product launch

Architect and execute B2B SaaS product launches that drive sustained pipeline. Launches are built on the tactics around the event — not the channel checklist. Pick 5–8 tactics from the 16-tactic library; derive assets from the chosen tactics; orchestrate across pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch.

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Claude Code triggers

Invoke when user says:

• "Product launch for [feature/product]"
• "Feature launch plan"
• "Launch strategy for [company]"
• "GTM launch plan"
• "New feature announcement"
• "Create launch assets"
• "Launch timeline for [feature]"
• "Launch checklist"
• "Plan a launch for [feature]"
• "Launch playbook"

Do NOT invoke when:

• User wants landing page copy only → use website-copy
• User wants product messaging only → use product-messaging
• User wants LinkedIn content only → use linkedin-weekly-content or linkedin-content-guide
• User wants email copy only → answer directly or use email-nurture
• User wants live event production only → use webinar-brief

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Input requirements

Required

Input	Description	Source
Product feature brief	What's launching, target release date	User provides
Product messaging	Capabilities, benefits, differentiators	product-messaging skill or existing
ICP research	Target personas, pain points, proof points	icp-behavioural skill or existing

Optional (improve quality)

Input	How it helps
TOV guidelines	Brand voice for all copy assets
Competitor launches	Differentiation framing
Sales objections	FAQ and enablement content
Customer feedback	Proof points and testimonials
Launch date	Timeline anchoring

Validation

Before proceeding, verify the feature brief includes name, category, description, target personas, key capabilities; product messaging available or generated; ICP research available or generated; launch date confirmed (or flexible window).

If inputs are missing: offer to run product-messaging and/or icp-behavioural first, or ask the user to provide the brief.

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Core frameworks

Launch philosophy

The old launch playbook is dead. Most marketers launch by writing "we're excited to announce" on LinkedIn, ticking off a channel checklist (Product Hunt / Hacker News / Reddit / LinkedIn / X), and wondering why their CEO asks "wait, did we even launch?" the following Monday.

A great launch is built on the tactics around the launch — not the channel checklist. The skill encodes 16 tactics in the premium reference. Strategy phase picks 5–8 of them. Development phase derives assets from the chosen tactics, not from a default 18-asset list.

The order matters: tactics first, then assets. Reverse this and you're back to the channel checklist mentality.

A launch built this way:

• Pre-builds audience before launch day (waitlist, teaser, ambassador, partner)
• Stages a real moment (live event, drop, named version)
• Sustains attention for 2+ weeks post-launch (recap cadence)
• Compounds across cycles (60-day relaunch every quarter)

T-0 is the midpoint, not the destination. And the channel checklist is not the strategy.

Three-phase architecture

Phase	Purpose	Duration	Deliverables
Strategy	Pick 5–8 tactics; define narrative, objectives, positioning	T-14 to T-10	Strategy brief with selected tactics, narrative angle, success metrics
Development	Produce assets derived from chosen tactics	T-10 to T-1	Asset list scoped to tactics (not a default 18-asset checklist)
Deployment	Orchestrate timeline and amplification	T-14 to T+14	Timeline, coordination playbook

Launch tiers

Tier	Description	Tactic count	Asset scope
Major	New product, category entry, platform shift	7–8 tactics	Live event + waitlist + teaser + ambassadors + partner + recap + relaunch + paid
Significant	Major feature, integration, pricing change	5–7 tactics	Subset above; selective paid
Standard	Feature improvement, capability expansion	4–6 tactics	Channel-specific copy + recap + founder personal posts + 1–2 others
Minor	Bug fix, UX improvement	3–4 tactics	Channel-specific copy + recap + grandfather (if applicable)

Anything counts as a launch

The 16-tactic library doesn't only apply to product launches. The same machinery runs for:

• Stealth exits — coming out of stealth is a launch
• Feature drops — significant feature releases
• Hiring announcements — exec hires, team scale-ups
• Pricing changes — new tiers, plan refactors (always pair with grandfather policy)
• Big blog posts — flagship content, research releases
• Funding announcements — Series A/B/C, secondary rounds
• Partnership reveals — when a partner co-launch IS the launch
• Geographic expansion — entering a new market

If you've ever shipped something that got crickets, this skill fixes it. The trigger isn't "is this a product?" — it's "are we asking the audience to pay attention?" If yes, run the playbook.

Seasonal alignment

Every launch happens in a cultural context. Check for adjacent cultural moments (±14 days from launch), score alignment fit (Strong/Medium/Weak/Negative), choose strategy (ride the wave, counter-program, ignore, or avoid), and adapt messaging (hooks, imagery, CTAs). See the premium reference.

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Tactic library — Strategy starts here

Before anything else in the Strategy phase, pick 5–8 tactics from the premium reference. The 16-tactic menu covers waitlist, ambassador army, partner co-launch, channel-specific copy, founder personal posts, gamified drops, filtered giveaways, weird swag, audience-as-detective narratives, named versions, public roadmap voting, grandfather policy, teaser videos, live events, recap cadences, and 60-day relaunches.

Selection criteria: launch tier, audience size, ICP shape, resource constraints, existing community signal. The chosen tactics drive the Development phase asset list — not a default 18-asset checklist.

Three battle-tested stacks live in tactic-library.md as starting points:

• Clicky stack — Waitlist → Teaser → Live event → Recap. Best for momentum into a live event.
• Long-tail stack — Ambassador army → Partner co-launch → 60-day relaunch. Best for cold audiences and limited founder time.
• Drama stack — Narrative campaign → Named version → Recap. Best for personality-led brands.

Most launches won't match a stack cleanly — combine across stacks. The 5–8 selection rule is the discipline.

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Process

The launch runs in three phases. Read the premium reference for the full step-by-step (5 strategy steps, 8 development steps, 4 deployment steps, plus per-phase checkpoints and the process flowchart).

Phase summary:

1. Strategy (T-14 to T-10) — feature brief, 5–8 tactics selected from tactic-library.md, narrative angle, business objectives, kick-off agenda
2. Development (T-10 to T-1) — derive assets from chosen tactics (not from a default 18-asset checklist), produce each via its template-spec
3. Deployment (T-14 to T+14) — pre-launch / launch-day / post-launch timelines + coordination playbook with RACI

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Anti-hallucination guardrails

1. Ground all claims in inputs. Feature benefits must come from product brief or messaging.
2. No invented metrics. Use provided proof points or mark as [PLACEHOLDER: metric].
3. Quote verbatim. Customer quotes from ICP research only.
4. Mark placeholders clearly. Use [PLACEHOLDER: description] for unconfirmed details.
5. Cite sources. Link each asset to its input source.

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Integration with other skills

Skill	Relationship	Usage
product-messaging	Required input	Capabilities, benefits, differentiators for all copy
icp-behavioural	Required input	Persona targeting, pain points, proof points
tov-guidelines	Optional input	Voice and tone for all copy assets
website-copy	Asset generation	Landing page development (waitlist + launch page)
sales-deck / battlecards / one-pager	Asset generation	Sales-enablement assets at launch
linkedin-weekly-content	Asset generation	Pre-launch / launch / post-launch LinkedIn series (expanded via channel-copy-spec.md)
email-nurture	Asset generation	6-email waitlist sequence delivery (tactic 1)
webinar-brief	Asset generation	Live event production mechanics (tactic 14)
storytelling	Asset generation	Multi-chapter narrative campaigns (tactic 9)
linkedin-content-guide-founders	Asset generation	Founder personal post mechanics (tactic 5)
expert-pov	Optional input	Founder voice extraction for waitlist tease emails
pricing-strategy	Adjacent	Underlying pricing decision; grandfather policy layers on top (tactic 12)

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MCP data integration

Level: 2 — PM Execution (inherits strategy, operational pulls)

Inherits from: product-messaging

Pulls fresh

Source	What to pull	Tool	When
Slack	Launch coordination threads	slack_search_public	Always

Fallback (no MCP)

• Use product-messaging output directly
• Manual launch coordination via shared docs
• User-provided timeline and stakeholder info

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Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.

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