What's on your launch list?

How do I know when to launch?

Before you feel ready. Before you “clean up some bad code.” Before you figure out your Product Hunt strategy. And definitely before

I’m about to launch plzdm.me to a small group of users (people on the email list) on Wednesday. I’m still embarrassed about the shape the product is in.

So why am I going to ship it now?

Because I know it can already solve people’s problems.

I saw a tweet from Kelly Vaughn:

Kelly Vaughn ☀️ kvlly.eth @kvlly I have so many unread DMs from the past week or so that I am officially declaring DM bankruptcy. I'm sorry if I missed your DM. I promise it was nothing personal. The good news is I do actually check my email and have a public email where I'm easier to access: ✉️kelly@hey.com pic.twitter.com/EgbmM1xctR March 8th 2021 0 Retweets 59 Likes

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I have the perfect tool to help her pass this message to anyone who tries to DM her.

But I can’t help her yet. Why? The code isn’t shipped.

If we’re creating software to help solve problems (and we should be), we should ship as soon as possible.

Holding back is selfish.

So what’s left?

I had to transition the Next.js Supabase subscription payments starter to accept one-time payments. Thankfully it was not very difficult. Stripe has amazing documentation and the original payments code was easy to extend.

The last four things on my launch list:

1. Switch Stripe to production mode
2. Add LogRocket and configure alerting
3. Ensure analytics events are setup
4. Fix final three V1 bugs

After that, it's time to rip the bandaid off.

Want to test it out?

I’m giving away five (5) copies in exchange for a fifteen-minute feedback session. Signup on the link above or DM me on Twitter if you’re interested.

Notable links

Noah is building Potion, a Notion-powered site builder. I have a lot of empathy for his question. I've wondered if a lifetime deal could work for plzdm.me.

What can you gain from selling lifetime deals on sites like AppSumo? Tons of exposure, lots of new customers, and cash in the bank. It can be a great alternative to raising VC if you know what you're doing.

You must know your numbers. If you're off by a little bit, it can be catastrophic. Bad pricing can be grim, but bad lifetime pricing is fatal.
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Mispriced monthly plan

• committed to providing service for one month at a loss
• can tweak pricing for each new cohort
• has a capped downside

Mispriced lifetime plan

• committed to providing service at a loss forever
• pricing is fixed for the entire group that joins during your deal
• has unlimited downside potential

Mispriced lifetime deals are bad debt.

So why am I launching plzdm.me with one? My costs are pretty low.

• Free tier of Twitter API
• Free tier of Supabase.io
• $20/mo on Vercel for hosting
• $12/yr domain name

Those are my only costs at the moment (Supabase will be paid after the beta is over).

See you on the other side,

Drew