Occasionally I write an email to people who subscribed on codetomarket.fm. They contain more personal thoughts/rants/insights. Here's one I'm making public:

Subject: [Code to Market 21] Avoiding the trap: Stop talking about the launch. Just launch.

Body:

reminder: I only email you about the can't-miss episodes, like this one out where Gonto puts me in the hot seat to break down the launch at Laravel I was hired to lead.

tl;dr: In episode 21, Gonto liked the launch, but thinks I missed a viral opportunity. I think I avoided a common trap: marketing the marketing. [YouTube] [Spotify] [Apple]

Gonto put on his advisor hat and talked me through what was good and what could've been better: “You should’ve gone way harder on the ‘no launch week’ thing. Put it on the homepage, banner it everywhere, make it a bit.”

In the episode I somewhat agreed, but here’s the thing:

• I didn’t want to make how we were launching the story.

• I wanted the launch to be the story.

When teams market the marketing — the week, the coordination, the mechanics — they’re often compensating for a lack of substance. We had the goods. Eight new videos, four streams, comparison pages, the homepage overhaul, and (most of all) HUGE product releases.

So we let the launch speak for itself.

Some principles I stand by:

• Don’t dilute your big moment by stretching it into a “week.” Bundle it.

• Don’t burn your best message on the meta. Spend it on the product.

• If you’re proud of what you shipped, ship it. Loudly. Clearly.

Aside from that post-hoc disagreement, Gonto gave incredible advice on our homepage, pricing page, and a couple other small things. 

Now scroll back up and click the links - I need those hits on our analytics or I'll die! Throw in a 5-star review while you're there ;)

-Hank

PS - This is also the most detailed teardown of a launch we’ve done. Great if you’re planning something big. Or recently did, and have that “did we do it right?” feeling. We'd love your feedback