whowinsA Launch Week Plan With a whowins Seat
A launch is a week when people are already looking for your product. A seat on the right board during that week puts the listing where they look. This post is a day-by-day plan that uses the seat without overspending on it.
A launch week is the one week when people are actively looking for what you built. A seat on the right board during that week puts your listing where they look, and because the seat changes hands the moment the payment clears, it fits into a launch plan without any lead time. This is the plan we would follow, day by day, with the seat as one of several channels rather than the whole strategy.
Two days before: pick the board and the row
Open the board a buyer of your product would open and read the seats: current price and last payment on each row. Decide the number a seat is worth to you for the week and pick the row that fits it. Our post on choosing your first board covers the choice; the short version is to prefer the right board over the top row.
Write the listing for that board’s visitor: the real name, a one-line description naming the buyer and the job, a mark that reads at small size, and a link to the page a launch visitor should land on.
The day before: take the seat
Take the seat the day before the announcement. The listing is live at once, which means it is already on the board when the first launch visitors arrive, and it gives you a day to check that the link lands where you meant and the logo renders cleanly in the row.
If the seat you wanted was taken while you were preparing, the current price has moved. Compare it to your number and either pay it or take the row below. Do not let the launch date push you past the number.
Launch day: point everything at the product, not the seat
The seat is a place where people who are already browsing find you. Your announcement, your mailing list and your social posts should point at your product, not at the board. The board does its work with visitors who were on it anyway. Mentioning that your product holds a seat is fine as a line in the announcement; making the board the destination wastes the traffic you created.
Watch the exit clicks on your row during the day. They are counted and shown to you, and they tell you whether the listing is earning the visits the board sends.
Day two and three: read the clicks and fix the listing
By the second day you have enough clicks to judge the listing. Many board visits and few clicks on your row means the line or the logo is the problem. Rewrite the line for the board’s visitor, as described in writing a listing that earns clicks, and take the seat again with the new listing if the copy change is worth it to you.
If the clicks are good and the row is lower than you would like, this is the moment to look at the row above: its current price and last payment are on the board, and your number from day one still applies.
Day four and five: decide about the clock
If the board has its first ten seats taken, a seat on it can carry a clock. A clock pins your seat to the top of the board while it runs, puts a card on the home page and the challenge page, and locks the seat for two days at zero. For a launch, the lock is the attractive part: two days in a top row with nobody able to take it. The cost is whatever the seat costs on that board plus the rivalry a clock invites. The rules are in the challenge clock explained; decide with your number, not with launch adrenaline.
After the week: the seat stays
The seat does not expire. You hold it until someone pays more than you did, and if that never happens, the listing stays on the board indefinitely at the amount you paid. Many founders find that the seat they took for launch week is still theirs months later, quietly sending visits.
If someone does take it, the decision method is the same as on day one: take it back if the new last payment is under your number, otherwise take a different row. Our post on when to take a seat and when to wait goes through that choice.
What to prepare that is not the seat
The seat is one channel, and the plan above assumes the rest of the launch exists: a product page that loads fast, a clear first screen, a way to sign up or buy, and an answer ready for the first support question. A seat that sends a hundred visits to a page that is not ready wastes the visits and the seat. Spend the two days before launch on that page as much as on the listing.
Also decide in advance who watches the exit clicks and the feed during the week, so the decision about moving up a row or fixing the line is made by someone looking at the numbers rather than by whoever is most nervous on launch day. The rules page is short enough to read once before the week and never again.
The plan on one page
- Two days before: choose the board and the row, write the listing, set your number
- The day before: take the seat, check the link and the logo in the row
- Launch day: point your own channels at the product, watch exit clicks
- Days two and three: fix the listing if clicks are low, consider the row above
- Days four and five: decide about a clock if the board carries them
- After: hold the seat, return only within your number
The leaders page is a good place to look on day one, to see which listings in the top rows you would click yourself and borrow what works.
Questions
When in the launch week should I take the seat?
Before the announcement. The seat changes hands the moment the payment clears, so taking it the day before means the listing is on the board when the first visitors arrive.
Should I take the top seat for launch?
Take the row your number allows. A lower row on the right board is in front of the same visitors; the top row costs more because other founders want it too.
Does the seat expire after the launch?
No. You hold the seat until someone pays more than you did. There is no renewal and no end date.
What do I do with exit click counts?
Use them to judge the listing. Many board visits and few clicks on your row means the line or the logo needs work; fix those before spending more on the seat.
Can I open a challenge during launch?
If the board has its first ten seats taken, yes. A clock pins your seat to the top of the board while it runs and locks it for two days at zero; weigh that against what the seat costs on that board.