How to promote your startup before, during and after launch
Short answer
Promoting a startup isn't one launch day: for weeks beforehand you share your progress every day on a place like Upvera and build your audience then. Set up a page on your own domain with a waitlist, and find your first users one by one. On launch day, go out with one message and one link, ask for feedback rather than votes, then share what you learned and keep posting.
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What this page is for: Build a step-by-step plan to promote a startup or side project from zero, without spending money.
Promotion is a process, not a day
Most founders squeeze promotion into launch day: the product is done, an announcement goes out, a few links get dropped, then silence. People who have never heard of you don't show up that day, and if they do, they don't stay. What launch day brings is limited by the attention you built in the weeks before it.
So split promotion into three periods. Before launch you build an audience, on launch day you move that audience, and afterwards you keep its attention. None of it needs a budget; it needs a routine.
Before launch: build your audience
- Share your progress every day. What you did, what you tried, what's next. One line a day stays with more people than one long post a month. When Y Combinator relaunched Startup School in 2020, it asked founders for weekly updates and put it plainly: "Consistent progress every week is a prerequisite for success." (announcement). Upvera is built for exactly this: every day stays on your startup's page, and the sources you connect (GitHub, the App Store, Vercel, npm) fill in the work on their own. Our guide to building in public covers how to start.
- Set up a page on your own domain. One screen is enough: a sentence on what it does, who it's for, a screenshot and a sign-up form. This is where you'll send people on launch day.
- Collect a waitlist. A list you can email on launch day brings the most reliable visitors you'll get, and it doesn't depend on any feed's ranking.
- Find your first users one by one. Paul Graham's Do Things That Don't Scale is clear on this: you can't wait for users to come to you; you have to go out and get them. If you know who your customer is, write to them directly, ask for a short call and show them the product.
- Ask the right question. In those calls, don't ask "do you like it?"; ask "how do you do this today?" Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test explains how to build questions that bring real information instead of polite compliments.
Prep checklist
Write the material once and use the same version everywhere:
| Piece | What it should be |
|---|---|
| One line | A tagline of 60 characters or fewer that says what it does and who it's for |
| Short description | Two or three sentences on the problem, the solution and why now |
| Images | Three or four screenshots of screens that really work |
| Short demo | A 30 to 60 second screen recording that makes sense with the sound off |
| First message | A personal note on why you built it, who it's for and what you're curious about |
| Sign-up path | A working sign-up form or download link |
The day before launch, test every link yourself: sign-up form, download button, demo video, email. A broken link wastes more of that day's effort than anything else.
Launch day
- One message, one link. The same sentence and the same page everywhere. People will see you in different places; they remember you only if the message doesn't change.
- Ask for feedback, not votes. Most launch sites and communities ban asking directly for votes. Even where they don't, "would you try it and tell me where you got stuck?" brings far more than "would you vote for me?"
- Be there all day. Answer every comment and message. Every question you answer is a user you talked to.
- Write everything down. Put questions, bugs and requests in one list. That list is what the launch really leaves you.
- Post the day itself. What shipped, what you saw in the first hours, what surprised you. The people who followed you on Upvera are there that day too.
After launch
- Write up what you learned. A "what launch week taught us" post is often read more than the launch itself.
- Fix things and say what you fixed. Someone who gave feedback comes back when they see their suggestion in the product.
- Keep posting. A launch is a spike; the weeks after decide who stays. This week's visitors are the audience for your next announcement. The weekly update guide helps with a weekly summary.
- Save the next announcement for a real change. Relaunching for a small update spends the trust from the first one.
Common mistakes
- Staying quiet until launch day. An announcement from someone nobody knows lands in empty space.
- Going everywhere on the same day. You can't answer well in five places at once; go one at a time.
- Launching something that doesn't work. If the sign-up form is broken or the demo won't open, the day's effort is wasted.
- Inflating numbers. Writing "thousands of users" and showing twenty spends trust in a way that doesn't come back. A small, accurate number says more.
- Going silent after launch. Most attention fades within the first week; steady posting stretches it.
When it doesn't work
- If your customers don't look for products online (hospital procurement teams or neighbourhood shops, for example), most promotion happens in one-to-one conversations, and this plan is only part of it.
- If the product doesn't solve a problem yet, promotion won't hide that; it only shows it to more people. First see a few users really using it.
- The plan takes effort. If you don't have time to post every day, post weekly; being regular matters more than being frequent.
Questions
How do I promote a startup with no budget?
No-budget promotion has three tools: regular posting, your own page and one-to-one conversations. Share your progress every day, gather people on your own page and waitlist, and find your first users one by one. Ads don't replace these three, and ads without them are usually wasted.
How long before launch should I start?
Start sharing today, at least a few weeks before your launch date. Once the date is set, give the last two weeks to the prep checklist: page, images, demo and first message.
What if attention drops after launch?
It will; that's normal. Write up what you learned, announce what you fixed and keep posting. The people who stay are the ones who followed you along the way.
Where should I share my startup?
Where your customers already are, on your own page and with your email list. For the daily record of your progress you can use Upvera: every day stays on your startup's page, the community responds with Prime and Pass, and Ranks orders startups by the work done.
How Upvera does it
Upvera isn't a launch day; it's where the days before and after a launch live. Upvera is a progress platform where startup founders and independent builders share what they build every day: your startup gets a public page, and each day is a one-line post. If you connect GitHub, the App Store, Vercel or npm, pushes and releases are read from the source and added to your days automatically. The community responds with Prime or Pass, and Ranks orders startups by posting rhythm, verified proof and community wings, not by launch-day votes. Add your startup, or read what Upvera is first.
Sources
Keep your days in one place
On Upvera you add your startup and share what you did each day in a line. The sources you connect fill in your days on their own.
Related guides
- What is building in public, and how do you start?What building in public means, why founders do it, a weekly rhythm, a post template, how open to be and what never to share.
- How to write a weekly startup update (template and example)A copy-paste weekly update template, a full example, and how tone and cadence change for users, team, mentors and investors.
- What to post when you have nothing to show yet14 post types for founders with nothing to show yet, with examples, a one-line formula, honest bad-day posts and what to avoid.