Launch Strategy Planner

Launching a product without a plan usually means tweeting about it once and wondering why nobody showed up. This skill builds a phased launch strategy — from internal testing through full public release — with channel allocation, timing, and checklists for each phase. It includes Product Hunt playbooks and post-launch marketing plans so you don’t lose momentum after day one.

What Makes This a Claude Code Skill

Claude Code reads your project files to understand what you’re building and who it’s for, then writes a complete launch plan with phase-by-phase actions, channel strategies, and checklists. It asks targeted questions about your audience size, available channels, and timeline, then generates a plan grounded in your actual situation — not generic advice.

Based on the launch-strategy skill from coreyhaines31/marketingskills.

The ORB Framework

Every launch plan is built around three channel types:

• Owned — your email list, blog, social accounts, community. You control the timing and message.
• Rented — platforms where you have an audience but don’t own the distribution (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Product Hunt).
• Borrowed — other people’s audiences (podcasts, newsletters, guest posts, partnerships, influencer mentions).

The plan allocates effort across all three so you’re not depending on any single channel.

Five Launch Phases

Setup

Create .claude/commands/launch-strategy.md:

mkdir -p .claude/commands

Then add this content to .claude/commands/launch-strategy.md:

Create a phased launch strategy based on $ARGUMENTS.

## Step 1: Gather Context

Read project files from `.claude/` and `src/content/` to understand:
- What's being launched (product, feature, major update)
- Target audience and market

Ask the user:
- What are you launching? (product, feature, rebrand, pricing change)
- Audience size: email list, social followers, community members
- Available channels: blog, newsletter, social, communities, partners
- Timeline: target launch date or flexible?
- Budget: organic only, or paid promotion available?

## Step 2: Build the ORB Channel Map

Categorize available channels:
- **Owned**: email list, blog, website, community
- **Rented**: social platforms, Product Hunt, marketplaces
- **Borrowed**: podcasts, newsletters, influencers, partnerships

Assign effort allocation (%) across all three.

## Step 3: Create Phase Plan

For each phase (Internal → Alpha → Beta → Early Access → Full Launch):
- Timeline and duration
- Goals and success metrics
- Channel-specific actions with owners
- Content needed (emails, posts, landing pages, press kits)
- Checklist of tasks

## Step 4: Product Hunt Playbook (if applicable)

Include before/during/after checklists:
- Before: build hunter relationships, prep assets, schedule team
- During: first-hour strategy, comment responses, social amplification
- After: follow-up emails, convert traffic, publish retrospective

## Step 5: Post-Launch Marketing

Plan for weeks 2-8 after launch:
- Onboarding email sequence triggers
- Comparison and alternative pages
- Case studies from early users
- Content marketing calendar

## Output

Write to `./launch-strategy/[product-name]-launch.md`
Include summary timeline, channel allocation table, and phase checklists.
Print phase timeline to terminal.

Usage

/project:launch-strategy SaaS product launch, 2k email list, active on Twitter, targeting solopreneurs

Claude asks follow-up questions about your specific situation, then generates a phased plan with real channel assignments, content requirements, and dated checklists.

Tips

• The plan references real launch case studies (Superhuman, Notion, SavvyCal) for tactics that worked in practice
• Run this early — at least 4-6 weeks before your target launch date
• Pair with the Content Calendar Builder to schedule the content pieces each phase requires