One of the most common mistakes for early startups is the failure to account for approvals when building towards a launch. While it’s easy to prep all your assets in one night, it’s not easy to get all your stakeholders to approve them. This post is about creating a work back schedule to ensure you've got everything in place for a launch. More info available at: http://blog.heavybit.com/blog/2014/11/11/approvals

1. Heavybit Launch Checklist
One of the most common mistakes for early startups is the failure to account for approvals when building
towards a launch. While it’s easy to prep all your assets in one night, it’s not easy to get all your
stakeholders to approve them. This list is a basic work back schedule for launch assets. A more detailed
explanation is available at http://blog.heavybit.com/blog/2014/11/11/approvals.
One Month Out
❏ Core Messaging Doc: This is the master doc with all the facts and high­level
rationale as to why
you’re making an announcement. It includes problem statement, how this announcement is part of
the solution, core launch audiences, 2­3
sentences for an elevator pitch, 2­3
sentence company
boilerplate. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Draft Release: Write the facts of your launch in Inverted Pyramid style and in the third person POV.
Leave placeholders for quotes. Approvers: Circulate to investors, advisors and partners for input,
quotes and sign off. If they’re open to being interviewed as part of your launch, get their contact
information as reference for journalists.
❏ FAQ: Answer any technical and press questions you anticipate being asked. Approvers: Circulate
to exec for approval and sales and support for fact checking.
Two Weeks Out
❏ Blog Post: Continue to use Inverted Pyramid style but write this in the first person POV with a
conversational tone. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Landing Page: Include key info about the product and make sure you’ve got analytics on the page
to measure your press referrals. You might make this a live page with a countdown timer depending
on the demand for the product. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Demo Video + Explanatory Graphics/Flowcharts: Offer journalists private access to demo
videos or graphics. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Note to Customers: Craft a note to customers to go out at the same time as your press launch.
Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Staff Briefing: Brief staff on your launch in order to ensure they’re ready for the onslaught of new
users. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
❏ Pitch: Start pitching your embargoed launch. Where applicable, offer drafts of the release, quotes,
FAQ and image/video assets. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs
One Week Out
❏ Press Deck: Build a deck to use during journalist briefings. Approvers: Internal Management +
Execs
❏ Call Scripts: Craft scripts to help your largest and most affected users take advantage of the
launch. Approvers: Internal Management + Execs, offer to sales and support for input.
❏ Sales Deck: Craft a deck for inside sales to walk customers through an upgrade. Approvers:
Internal Management + Execs, offer to sales for input.
One Day Out
❏ Social Media Updates: Schedule these to go live via Hootsuite or your tool of choice. Approvers:
Community Lead
❏ Alerts and Monitoring: Schedule Google Alerts and social media queries in order to listen to
questions and comments on tomorrow's launch. Put someone in charge of listening and followup.