Playbook
How to Launch on X
The 14-day run-up, from the first teaser to the launch-day thread.
Most launches on X fail before they start. The founder writes one thread, posts it at nine in the morning, and watches it stall at forty likes. The problem is rarely the product. It’s that nobody was waiting for it.
A launch is the last step of a campaign, not the first. The two weeks before it decide whether anyone shows up.
The run-up
- Day 14: post the problem, not the product. One sharp observation your buyers will recognize.
- Day 10: line up twenty people who will reply in the first hour. Ask them directly, and tell them the time.
- Day 7: share something you learned while building. Screenshots beat adjectives.
- Day 3: tease a screenshot and collect the replies. Everyone who replies gets a DM on launch day.
- Day 0: post the launch as a single strong post with a short video, then the thread underneath.
Launch day
The first hour matters more than the next twenty-three. Reply to every comment. Quote-post the best reactions instead of retweeting them, so your followers see your words and not just a repost.
Don’t ask people to “RT for reach.” Ask them for the one thing you need: a reply saying what they’d use it for. Replies travel further than likes, and they give you the copy for your next post.
The day after
Write the follow-up while the numbers are fresh: what worked, what didn’t, and one surprising reply. Launch posts spike and vanish. The follow-up is what people bookmark.
