Product Launch Readiness Checklist

Tanguy Crusson has spent 10+ years at Atlassian, where he's taken several products from zero to one, including HipChat, Statuspage, and most recently, Jira Product Discovery. In this episode, we dive deep into the struggles and lessons of innovating and building new products inside a large company. Tanguy shares candid stories about what's worked, what hasn't, and everything he's learned about successfully building 0 to 1. We cover: 🔸 Why large companies with so many advantages still fail at creating new products 🔸 How to avoid common pitfalls like competitive myopia and premature scaling 🔸 Lessons learned from acquisitions 🔸 Lessons from competing with Slack 🔸 Insights from the success of Jira Product Discovery 🔸 Tactics for protecting your “ugly babies” 🔸 The power of “lighthouse users” 🔸 The importance of having a “why now” 🔸 So much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gr9f4D45 - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gmiuz944 - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gWGAc5ZX Some key takeaways: 1. “Don’t eat your own bullshit.” When launching new products within companies that have already seen some success, it’s easy to assume that your existing playbooks will work again. But what got you here won’t take you there. You need to define, test, and validate your assumptions, because they may very well be wrong—especially when targeting new customer segments. 2. Startups benefit from starving. Starving creates hunger, which drives people to solve problems with resourcefulness and urgency. When exploring new products in a big company with excessive resources, you need to create scarcity to emulate this startup starvation. This generally means operating as a small, scrappy, siloed team. 3. The most likely outcome when launching a new product is failure—even at big companies that appear to have many advantages. It’s important to ground new product launches in this reality so that you can deter the company from over-investing, which ultimately serves to reduce hunger, slow things down, and decrease the chances of success. After all, why invest heavily in something that’s most likely to fail anyway? 4. Success for new products should be measured differently from existing ones, both in terms of metrics and time horizons. In general, new products should be judged by whether the team is answering the right questions at the right pace and whether the team is still excited about the new bet’s potential. It’s a common mistake to judge new products by metrics that a big company is used to, like MAUs or revenue. However, if a team is optimizing for MAUs or revenue before they’ve worked to understand the problem, they will be working on the wrong things. 5. Atlassian uses a four-phase approach to launching new products and deciding whether to invest in them further: Wonder, Explore, Make, Impact

Your Web3 project isn’t getting funded because you're focused on the wrong metrics. Here is how to fix it 👇 🧪 Build a prototype, not a pitch Your MVP should solve a real problem. Ship something users can test and give feedback on. Execution > ideas. 💬 Build your community before raising capital Investors look for signals. An engaged, loyal community is the strongest one. NEVER buy fake followers - they’re a red flag, not an asset. 🔍 Focus on metrics that matter Investors want hard numbers, not promises. Data showing active user retention is far more valuable than metrics that don’t demonstrate user engagement or loyalty. Retention metrics > vanity metrics. 🎯 Apply for funding strategically Not all funding paths are created equal. Choose wisely: - Ecosystem Grants: Perfect for chain integrations. - Protocol Grants: Ideal for improving existing protocols. - Hackathons: Great for networking and testing ideas. - VCs: Focus on teams with strong technical execution, clear roadmaps, and scalable potential. Don’t shotgun your pitch - tailor it to fit the funding source. 📈 Build momentum before talking to VCs VCs back progress, not just ideas. Before pitching: - Highlight adoption curves, early community growth, and technical achievements. - Build relationships with early users - they’re your first advocates. - Launch an MVP, iterate fast, and showcase how feedback has improved your product. 🔥 Don't burn cash on hype Focus on: - Token utility: Depending on the project, you can show a strong strategy for generating yield, TVL, or transaction growth. - Treasury management: Keep 12+ months of runway in stablecoins or diversified assets. - Community engagement: Highlight governance votes, staking rates, and active participation. Keep it lean, measurable, and sustainable. 💲 Want to raise capital? Build first and show progress. The money is out there. The question is: Are you fundable?

Most companies suck at launching products. They’re like Alice in Wonderland — chasing shiny objects and getting lost along the way. Here’s the 11-step process we perfected after 25 years of product launches (in a collaboration with Jason Oakley): 1. Competitive Research The key to great strategy is to look externally. Take notes on competitor's features and how they grow. Build a database so you can counter-position appropriately. 2. Segmentation A launch aimed at “everyone” will miss everyone. Instead, build a laser-focused Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Follow this chain of thought: What are they craving? → What frustrates them daily? → What job are they trying to accomplish? 3. Pricing & Packaging Even the smallest feature can have a ripple effect on your pricing and packaging. Don’t wait until launch week to figure this out. Before launching, assess things like: Will this be a paid feature or free? Who will get access? What’s the plan for feature gating? 4. Positioning Now it’s time to craft a message that resonates. Speak to their deeper desires, not just their immediate problems. Communicate the outcome your product delivers and why you’re different from the rest. 5. Assemble Your Launch Team You can’t do it alone, and you shouldn’t. A successful launch involves stakeholders across the company. Use the RACI framework to assign clear roles. 6. Clear Objectives Too many teams dive into a launch without defined goals. And that’s why they miss the mark. Set clear objectives and key results. 7. Distribution Channels Many teams fall into the trap of trying to be everywhere; LinkedIn, email, ads, you name it. Reality check: Most startups only have 1-2 effective distribution channels. Find yours and double down on it. 8. Launch Milestones Planning your entire launch around individual tasks will overwhelm you. Instead, focus on major milestones and build a work-back plan. Some key milestones to include: Early access launch → Customer launch → Kickoff meeting. 9. Bill of Materials Your Bill of Materials is the content engine of your launch. Focus on: → Writing the message they want to hear → Designing visuals that captivate and appeal to them → Creating email sequences tailored to every user flow 10. Sales & Customer Success Teams Too many launches fail because these teams are looped in at the last minute. Enable them early with a messaging deck, internal FAQs, and demo materials... And they’ll become powerful advocates for your product. 11. Launch Day Make sure everything is launched smoothly and on time. If you achieve early wins, be the first to celebrate them and rally the team. And don’t forget to keep pushing the momentum forward. There's much more in the deep dive: https://lnkd.in/eB7s6umA If you don't plan your launches, even the best products will fail.

𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙒𝙚𝙗3 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙨 – 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙢 Web3 startups have massive potential, but many struggle to scale beyond the early adopter phase. Unlike traditional startups, they face unique challenges around infrastructure, user experience, regulation, and token models. Here are some biggest hurdles – and how to overcome them: 🔹 User Adoption: Web3 is still too complex for mainstream users. Setting up wallets, managing private keys, and dealing with gas fees create friction. ✅ Solution: Improve UX with embedded wallets, gasless transactions, and intuitive onboarding. Web3 should feel as seamless as Web2. 🔹 Blockchain Scalability: Many networks struggle with high fees and slow speeds, making it hard for dApps to scale. ✅ Solution: Leverage Layer-2 solutions, explore alternative blockchains, and optimize on-chain/off-chain interactions for efficiency. 🔹 Tokenomics & Sustainability: Many projects launch with unsustainable token incentives, leading to price crashes once rewards dry up. ✅ Solution: Design token models with real utility beyond speculation and create long-term incentives for both users and investors. 🔹 Regulatory Uncertainty: Constantly changing rules make compliance a moving target, creating risks for startups. ✅ Solution: Work with legal experts early, choose jurisdictions wisely, and build a compliance-first approach to avoid future roadblocks. 🔹 Go-To-Market Strategy: Many Web3 projects rely solely on community hype, but a strong community doesn’t always mean sustainable revenue. ✅ Solution: Combine Web3-native growth (DAOs, token incentives) with proven Web2 marketing strategies (SEO, performance ads, partnerships). 🚀 The future belongs to startups that seamlessly integrate Web3 technologies into everyday life—without users having to think about wallets, gas fees, or blockchain protocols. What did I miss?

Most creators obsess over the product. Few obsess over the rollout. The release is part of the art. Not an afterthought. Taylor Swift understands this. Midnights hit 1.4 million equivalent album units in 5 days. Fastest-selling album of 2022. Spotify record for most-streamed album in a day. Radiohead proved it differently with In Rainbows. Pay-what-you-want strategy. Made $3 million instantly. Sold 3+ million copies total. Compare this to most launches: Only 40% of tech products hit their launch goals. Companies that run pre-launch campaigns see 30% higher engagement. Yet 68% of creators launch with less than 2 weeks of planning. The difference? Strategic rollouts. Here's the 7-step framework that turns launches into breakthroughs: 1. Build anticipation, not just awareness Swift's cryptic countdown posts drove millions into detective mode. Create mystery before revelation. Tease features, don't announce them. Let your audience solve the puzzle. 2. Treat timing as a creative choice Radiohead released when the industry said "impossible." Their timing made a statement about value. Your launch date is part of your message. Choose it like you choose your words. 3. Plan for the long arc Most creators go silent after launch day. The best ones create seasons, not moments. Map content for 90 days, not 9 days. Think campaign, not event. 4. Map your content ecosystem One launch needs multiple content formats. Behind-the-scenes videos for YouTube. Process breakdowns for LinkedIn. User stories for testimonials. Each piece feeds the others. 5. Build community before you need it Swift had Swifties before she had albums to sell. Start building relationships today. Engage in comments, not just posts. Your launch audience should already know you. 6. Design feedback loops Launch, listen, adapt, repeat. Every comment is data for your next move. The best launches become conversations. Plan how you'll respond, not just how you'll speak. 7. Create momentum multipliers Design each piece to generate the next piece. User-generated content campaigns. Media coverage from early adopters. Referral programs that reward sharing. Success should snowball, not plateau. Your creative work deserves a creative launch. Stop treating the rollout like an obligation. Start treating it like an opportunity. ♻️ Share this with someone ready to launch their work strategically 🔔 Follow Kabir Sehgal for frameworks on creativity

Yesterday, A trampoline launched a car onto a roof. Today I realized why this matters for product leaders. This isn't a movie stunt - it's real life. Yesterday in Germany, a car crashed through a hedge, hit a trampoline, and somehow ended up lodged in a barn roof. Two people were seriously injured, but miraculously survived this impossible scenario. Sometimes the most valuable lessons come from the most improbable situations. Recently, I was advising a startup founder whose B2B payment solution was targeting SMEs. Their carefully researched roadmap was crystal clear - or so they thought. Three months post-launch, they discovered something extraordinary: 40% of their users were freelancers and gig workers, not traditional SMEs. They were using the corporate invoicing feature as a personal income tracker. Their initial reaction? "They're using it wrong." But then I posed the crucial question: "What if they're using it exactly right?" That "accidental" user behavior became the foundation for their most successful product pivot - a freelancer financial management platform that generated 300% more revenue than their original B2B offering. This is the power of what I've witnessed across 20+ years in fintech and countless advisory engagements: the most transformational breakthroughs often emerge from the spaces between intention and reality. Here's how senior product leaders can turn unexpected outcomes into strategic advantages: 1/ Resist the Correction Reflex: When users deviate from your intended path, investigate before you course-correct. 2/ Mine the Anomalies: The most disruptive innovations often hide in the "edge cases" your team initially wants to ignore. 3/ Embrace Strategic Ambiguity: Sometimes the best product strategy is being deliberately unclear about your boundaries. 4/ Build for Emergence: Design systems that can evolve with user behavior rather than constraining it. Here's my question for you: Have you ever had a meticulously planned feature fail spectacularly, while an "accidental" capability became your biggest competitive advantage? What did that teach you about the nature of product innovation? 👉 For VP-level product leaders: The next wave of fintech disruption won't come from following playbooks - it will emerge from leaders bold enough to architect products that thrive on uncertainty. 👉 For seasoned product executives navigating complex pivots, platform scaling, or organizational transformation: The patterns that separate good product leaders from transformational ones often emerge in these moments of strategic ambiguity. If you're facing strategic inflection points where traditional frameworks fall short, let's explore how to architect resilience into your product organization. DM me to discuss your unique challenges. #fintech #productleadership #productmanagement #payments #mentoring

Want to know why product launches fail? It's rarely because the product is bad. The real killer? Treating go-to-market as an afterthought. The "build it and they will come" mindset is a recipe for disaster. Your product (amazing as it is) won't reach its potential without a solid go-to-market strategy. So I teamed up with Aakash Gupta from Product Growth to create a launch playbook for PMs that don't have product marketing support. Some of the OG founding PMMs 💪 Here's a quick summary of what it takes to get to launch day: 1️⃣ Competitive Research: Analyze competitor messaging, market needs, buying habits, and potential positioning gaps. Start with internal research, but also get out there and talk to people. 2️⃣ Segmentation: Define your Customer Profile (ICP). Don't fall into the trap of being too broad — you want your audience to feel like the product was made just for them. 3️⃣ Pricing & Packaging: Set a clear pricing and packaging strategy early. I learned the hard way that last-minute pricing surprises can derail a launch, so planning a review can save a lot of stress later. 4️⃣ Positioning & Messaging: Craft a compelling launch narrative that drives your positioning home. A solid messaging framework can help distill complex ideas into simple stories that truly connect with your audience. 5️⃣ Assemble Your Launch Team: Establishing clear responsibilities early on prevents last-minute confusion and keeps the launch process running smoothly. 6️⃣ Clear Objectives: Establish measurable OKRs. Setting concrete, meaningful goals from the start helps keep everyone aligned and accountable before and after the launch. 7️⃣ Distribution Channels: Choose realistic, high-impact channels. Trust me, it’s more effective to focus on one or two channels that deliver results. Don't spread yourself too thin. 8️⃣ Launch Milestones: Set key dates and work backwards. Mapping out major milestones first makes it a lot easier to plan the little details more accurately. 9️⃣ Bill of Materials: Project management is still a big part of a successful go-to-market. List all content and deliverables needed. Breaking down tasks in a simple project board or spreadsheet keeps everything and everyone organized. 🔟 Enable Sales & CS: Equip teams with assets and training. Looping in your sales and customer success teams early ensures they’re confident and ready, turning them into powerful advocates on launch day. 1️⃣1️⃣ Launch Day: Execute, monitor, and celebrate every win. Remember, your enthusiasm is contagious and sets the bar for everyone else. By celebrating even the small wins, you build momentum that propels the entire team forward. There you have it - a framework for launching products that actually get traction. Want the complete playbook with templates and examples? Check it out here → https://lnkd.in/gGZmDyhT

A lot of product marketers are told to “own the launch.” But what that really ends up looking like is a glorified checklist. This is a problem. A good product launch is a strategic GTM motion that builds internal alignment, drives external clarity, and supports real business goals. And recently, Natalie Marcotullio from Navattic shared a great launch, when they rolled out Launchpad, so I want to use it to walk you through what this looks like in practice. Here’s the 5-part launch framework I coach clients on, and how it played out for this example: 1️⃣ Strategic readiness This is the part most teams skip. Everyone’s eager to “go live,” but you’d be shocked at how many can’t answer basic questions like: --> Who is this product for? --> Why are we launching it now? --> What’s the pain point we’re solving, and how do we know? This can happen a lot when PMs are under pressure to launch sooner before the product is ready (and are sucked into the build trap). What Navattic did: In Q4 and Q1, a small group of co-founders and sales reps quietly built and validated Launchpad. While marketing was not involved here, the product side ensured that this step was done. 2️⃣ Positioning & messaging Great messaging starts from the synthesis of real insights… and then ties a human story to it. What Navattic did: Natali pulled real call recordings, identified patterns, and built messaging around them. She also interviewed Navattic’s CEO about his time as an SE, grounding the narrative in the emotional reality of the demo treadmill Launchpad is designed to solve. 3️⃣ External promotion strategy Promotion should be treated as a marketing campaign, not a to-do list. Start with a clear theme or big idea. Then choose your channels and sequence intentionally based on how your audience actually buys. What Navattic did: In Q2, they quietly added Launchpad to the pricing page and iterated the copy 3–4 times. They ran lead gen through high-intent channels like SE conferences, LinkedIn, Google, and even AEO (ChatGPT and Perplexity). When launch day came, they focused on channels that mattered, like their trusted advisors and loyal customers who love them. 4️⃣ Internal enablement This is the final (and often most overlooked) step: making sure everyone inside the company understands the story and can retell it, through both documentation and training. What Navattic did: Natalie enabled everyone early: field teams, partners, even advisors. I got a detailed launch brief two weeks in advance, so I had the full context to speak confidently to my network. 5️⃣ Communications  Of course, a good launch also requires great communication and coordination throughout the entire process. Check out the post on this in the comments. ---- Ultimately, the key takeaway is that a great launch is STRATEGY-focused, not just tactical. ❓ What's the most important thing for you when launching major products? #productmarketing #launch #gtm #advising #coaching

Marketing at the pace of AI. 🏎️ Let's talk about product launches. For a long time, marketers often worked with product teams on launch planning for months, quarters, or even years (poor souls). Yet even as recently as 2024, Forrester found that only 25% of product marketers considered their launch process "best in class." Now we’re compounding speed on top of fragility: - Most PMM + product teams still operate with substandard launch processes - Engineering AI velocity is accelerating everything: ideation, design, code - Marketing AI velocity is accelerating the “how”. Messaging, positioning, content, creative, oh my! A lot of speed is being dropped onto outdated or nonexistent process -- what could go wrong? 🤡 Here's how I'm thinking at Demandbase about moving marketing's role in launches from "order taker" to "strategic narrative builder" during a time of rapid innovation: 1) When product is moving fast, PMM must operate at a higher abstraction level. Velocity in product should feed a larger arc. If marketing doesn’t create the arc, velocity fragments the brand. 2) Tighter governance of launches. We all have launch tiers. We all bend them. I’m exploring the concept of scoring innovation so tiering becomes less emotional and more quantitative. Not everything needs a moment. 3) Hands-on product marketing. AI can get you 90% there with a message but to get to a powerful, crisp talk track, you've got to know the product. It helps when you are marketing a marketing product :) -- my advice for other marketers is to get into the product even if you aren't the target persona. It will make your launches better and your credibility with the product team stronger. 4) Create dual lanes if you want to go faster. Engineering should absolutely ship fast. Some features deserve to be built and released in real time. But product marketing operates on a different clock. I'm very focused right now on how to create visible velocity without narrative fragmentation and a dual lane approach seems ideal: One lane optimizes for speed. The other optimizes for meaning. If we collapse those lanes into one, we either slow down innovation or we dilute the brand. Instead, they can coexist. In an AI world, product velocity compounds. Narrative compounds too, but only if it’s intentional. #AI #AIGTM #CMOFirst100Days #wintogether #productmarketing #PMM

Want to know why 76% of product launches fail in their first year? A weak Go-To-Market strategy. After analyzing 500+ successful product launches across Fortune 500 companies, I've identified the core principles that separate winners from losers in the marketplace. Here's your blueprint for a robust GTM plan: 1. Market Intelligence - Deep dive into customer pain points - Analyze competitive landscape - Identify market gaps and opportunities 2. Value Proposition - Clear problem-solution fit - Unique selling points - Compelling customer benefits 3. Target Audience - Detailed buyer personas - Decision-maker mapping - Customer journey analysis 4. Channel Strategy - Multi-channel distribution approach - Partner ecosystem development - Sales enablement framework 5. Pricing Strategy - Value-based pricing model - Competitive positioning - Market penetration tactics 6. Launch Timeline - Phased rollout plan - Key milestones - Resource allocation Pro tip: Your GTM plan should be a living document. Review and adjust quarterly based on market feedback and performance metrics. Remember: A great product without a solid GTM strategy is like a Ferrari without fuel - impressive, but going nowhere. What's your biggest challenge in creating a GTM plan? #ProductLaunch #GTMStrategy #BusinessStrategy #ProductManagement