Check whether a founder-led product launch has real owners, working paths and evidence for the customer promise before announcing a date. The download supplies a repeatable input, output and verification process. A person owns the final decision.
What to provide
Approved launch date or proposed window, product scope and known limitations, target users, channel plan, working purchase or signup path, owners and source links.
How it works
- Create an inventory of launch promises and their product evidence. Mark features, prices or availability as unknown unless current source-of-truth proof exists.
- Map dependencies for landing page, onboarding, support, payments, analytics, accessibility and rollback. Give each gate an owner and a concrete test, not merely a green label.
- Run a representative end-to-end fictional user journey on the current build: discover, understand, sign up or order in a test mode, receive confirmation and get help. Record the exact failed step.
- Write a go/hold brief with blocking failures, fix owners and retest evidence. A launch date remains proposed until the accountable people approve it.
The output
promise or journey | evidence URL/build | test | owner | result | blocker | fix | retest | approval
Worked example
Fictional September launch: the landing page says "instant setup" but a first-time test account cannot verify email. The gate is hold, with the auth owner assigned to fix the verification path and rerun the exact test. Do not announce the date from a planned fix.
Checks and limits
Check all public claims, signup/purchase links and ownership against the current build; verify any external availability. Do not publish a post, spend ad budget, change account settings or declare a launch complete.
This example is fictional. Keep missing facts marked unknown.
Method: original source. Directional US monthly search estimate for "product launch checklist": 260, from SearchVolume.io on Sep 29, 2026. This is not a traffic promise.