The Pre-Launch Checklist for Indie Hackers (That Most People Skip)

Most pre-launch checklists are written by people who’ve never launched alone. They include “assign a launch manager” and “coordinate your PR outreach” without acknowledging that you are your entire team. This one is written for that reality.

Before You Read This List

A checklist is not a substitute for the underlying judgment about whether you’re ready to launch. Before you go through these 20 items, answer one question honestly: can your ideal user complete the core action your product promises, without any help from you, in under five minutes?

If the answer is no, fix that first. Everything on this list is secondary to the product being functional enough for one person to use it unsupported.

Also: the goal of a checklist isn’t to get every item to green. It’s to force you to make conscious decisions about what you’re launching without versus what genuinely isn’t ready. Some items below are truly non-negotiable. Others are things you can reasonably skip on launch day one and add in week two. I’ve noted which is which.

For the broader launch strategy, including how to structure your actual launch day, see how to launch an app as a solo developer.

The Product Layer (8 checks)

1. Core action works end-to-end. Not in development mode. Not with test data. With real credentials, on your production environment, from a fresh incognito window. Do this yourself. Do it twice. (Non-negotiable.)

2. Payment flow is live and tested. If you’re charging, run a real $1 test charge on your production Stripe setup. Don’t launch paid without this. (Non-negotiable if charging.)

3. Signup and login work without errors. Test every auth method you offer. Click “forgot password.” Make sure the email arrives. (Non-negotiable.)

4. Error states don’t show raw stack traces. Go to a broken URL. Enter bad form data. Your error messages should be human-readable, not developer logs. (Non-negotiable.)

5. Mobile experience is usable. Not pixel-perfect. Just usable. Test on your phone. Can someone actually complete the core action? (Non-negotiable if you expect mobile traffic.)

6. Basic analytics is installed. Plausible, Fathom, or Google Analytics — pick one and confirm it’s tracking before you go live. You need to know how many people visited, where they came from, and whether they converted. (Non-negotiable.)

7. You have a way to capture email. Even if you’re not running a waitlist, have some mechanism on your landing page or post-signup to capture email addresses. This is your recovery mechanism if everything else fails. (Non-negotiable.)

8. Onboarding gets someone to value in under 3 minutes. Time yourself going through signup with fresh eyes. If it takes you more than three minutes knowing exactly what to do, it takes a new user much longer. Trim it. (Non-negotiable.)

The Audience Layer (6 checks)

9. You have at least 50 people primed to see the launch. This could be a waitlist, a community where you’ve built presence, or personal contacts in your target market. Fifty people who expect this is not a lot — it’s the minimum for getting any real day-one signal. (Non-negotiable.)

10. Your launch copy is written. The tweet/post/email you’ll send on launch day should be written before launch day. One clear sentence about what it does. One sentence about who it’s for. A link. That’s enough. (Non-negotiable.)

11. You’ve gotten at least 3 real people to try it. Not your developer friends. People who have the problem you’re solving. If you haven’t had a single outside person use it yet, you’re not ready to launch publicly. Post in Indie Hackers or your target niche communities and ask for beta testers. (Non-negotiable.)

12. You have a one-sentence description you can say out loud. Not a tagline. A clear sentence that tells a stranger what this is, who it’s for, and what it does. If you stumble when you try to say it, your positioning isn’t there yet. (Non-negotiable.)

13. You’ve chosen your primary launch platform. One platform — not five. Where does your target user actually spend time? Make that your launch home base. (Non-negotiable.)

14. You have social proof, even if it’s small. One real quote from a beta user. A screenshot of someone finding it useful. Anything that signals another human has tried this and didn’t hate it. If you have nothing, go get three beta testers today. (Can wait until launch week, but get it before you go live.)

The Post-Launch Plan (6 checks)

15. You know what you’ll do on day two. This sounds obvious. Most solo founders don’t think past launch day and crash hard when the spike fades. Write down three specific things you’ll do on day two regardless of how day one goes. (Non-negotiable.)

16. You have a support mechanism. This can be as simple as a contact email you check daily. Users will have questions. If there’s no way to reach you, you lose them permanently. (Non-negotiable.)

17. You’ve set a 7-day success metric. Not “go viral.” Something specific: 10 signups, 3 users completing the core action, 1 paid customer. You need a number to know whether to keep going or change course. (Non-negotiable.)

18. Your follow-up email is drafted. The email you’ll send to everyone who signs up on launch day, asking one question about why they signed up. Write it before launch. (Can be done on launch day, but don’t skip it.)

19. You’ve told someone who will hold you accountable. Launching in public — even to a small audience — changes your behavior. Tell one person whose opinion you respect that you’re launching on a specific date. (Optional but high-leverage.)

20. You’ve built a waitlist page that can capture emails after launch day. If you get a press mention or someone shares your link a week after launch, people should still be able to express interest. See building a waitlist before launch for how to set this up properly. (Can be done post-launch week one.)

If this is the kind of thing you want more of, the Struggling Entrepreneur newsletter covers pre-launch, launch, and post-launch tactics every week — for solo founders specifically.

Go through this list honestly. Mark what’s done, what’s skipped-intentionally, and what you didn’t realize you’d missed. Then launch.