07.1 — Launch Plan

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A good launch plan isn’t a marketing calendar - it’s a coordinated commercial motion across product, marketing and sales, sequenced deliberately so that each activity builds on the last. A common mistake is doing everything at once - announcing on LinkedIn, sending the email, activating paid ads and reaching out to prospects all in the same week, without the sequencing that allows each activity to amplify the next. The result is a spike of activity that generates noise but not traction, followed by silence. Work through each part of this template in order - the sequence matters.

Want to use AI for a first draft? At the end of each section, you’ll find these JSON prompts to complete all of the templates for you:

Launch Strategy Advisor Prompt

Launch Timeline Builder Prompt

Launch Channel Strategist Prompt

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PART 1 — LAUNCH READINESS ASSESSMENT

Are You Ready to Launch?

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Before you build your launch plan, assess your readiness honestly. Launching before you’re ready wastes scarce resources - especially if you’re bootstrapping - and creates a poor first impression that’s hard to recover from. This checklist will tell you what is blocking you and what you can launch without.

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Product readiness

Item	Status (Yes / No / In progress)
Core product or service is built and functional
Product has been tested with at least three real users or customers
Critical bugs or issues have been resolved
Onboarding or delivery process is defined and documented
You can deliver consistently at the volume your launch will generate

Commercial readiness

Item	Status (Yes / No / In progress)
Pricing is set and validated
Payment or invoicing process is in place
Contract or terms of service are drafted
ICP is defined and validated
You have a list of at least 20 target prospects or early adopters to contact at launch

Marketing readiness

Item	Status (Yes / No / In progress)
Positioning statement is complete and validated
Messaging framework is complete
Website is live with clear value proposition and CTA
Brand assets are in place (logo, colours, typography)
At least one piece of launch content is ready

Sales readiness

Item	Status (Yes / No / In progress)
You have a defined sales process — even a simple one
You have a pitch or product overview ready
You know how you will handle inbound enquiries
You have a CRM or tracking system in place — even a spreadsheet
You have defined what a successful early sale looks like

Readiness summary:

Number of items marked ‘No’: [placeholder]
Critical blockers - must resolve before launch: [Items where a No answer will directly prevent a good launch experience — e.g. product not functional, pricing not set, no way to take payment. Be honest. If it is on this list, fix it before you set a launch date.]
Items you can launch without: [Items where a No answer is suboptimal but not launch-blocking, e.g. case studies not yet written, CRM not yet set up. These go on a post-launch action list, not a pre-launch blocker list.]
Recommended launch date: [A practical rule: if any product readiness or commercial readiness items are marked No, add two weeks per unresolved item to your planned launch date. If marketing or sales readiness items are No, add one week per item. This is a rough guide - use your judgment.]

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Don’t wait until every item is green. You will never feel completely ready and waiting for perfection is one of the most expensive decisions a founder can make. The goal is to identify your genuine blockers - the things that will produce a poor customer experience or prevent you from taking payment - and resolve those before you go live. Everything else can be iterated in market. Shipping a version that is 80% ready and learning from real customers will almost always beat waiting six more weeks for 95%.

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