How to Launch a SaaS in 2026: The 47-Step Checklist That Actually Works

You've been building for months. The product works. Your landing page has the right words on it. Now what?

Launching is a separate discipline from building, and most first-time SaaS founders skip the boring half — the logistics, the SEO prep, the positioning — in favor of "launch day vibes." That's why most launches underperform.

This is the 47-step checklist we walk every indie maker through before they [submit to ScrollLaunch](/dashboard/products/new). Follow it and you'll compound traffic for years instead of getting one 24-hour spike.

## Phase 1 — Pre-launch (T-4 to T-1 weeks)

### Positioning & copy

1. **Write a one-sentence pitch.** "For \[audience\], we make \[outcome\] possible without \[pain\]." If you can't, you're not ready.
2. **Define your ICP in one paragraph.** Specific job title, company size, current tool stack.
3. **List your 3 closest competitors** and write a sentence about why you exist despite them.
4. **Write 3 hero headlines** and test them with 5 friendly users. Pick the one that gets the fastest "oh, I need that" reaction.
5. **Shoot a 60-second demo video.** Screen recording + voiceover. No fluff.

### Landing page

6. **Use a fast static stack.** Next.js + Vercel is the default for a reason.
7. **Hit a 90+ Lighthouse mobile score.** Image-heavy pages kill launch conversion.
8. **Add real social proof above the fold** — user logos, testimonials, or a count of people using it. Not fake.
9. **Add a clear primary CTA.** One per page. No "also try this" secondary CTAs competing with it.
10. **Write an FAQ section answering the top 8 objections.** This doubles as FAQ JSON-LD for Google.

### Technical SEO

11. **Set up `robots.txt` and `sitemap.xml`.** If you're on ScrollLaunch, we handle this for you.
12. **Add Organization, WebSite, and Product JSON-LD.** (If you're launching on ScrollLaunch, it's generated automatically.)
13. **Set up Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools.**
14. **Install privacy-respecting analytics** (Plausible, Fathom, or Vercel Analytics).
15. **Add OpenGraph + Twitter card images.** Static 1200×630 PNG at minimum; dynamic per-page OG via `next/og` is a big upgrade.

### Assets

16. **Design a square logo** (512×512) and a wordmark.
17. **Prepare 3-6 product screenshots** at 1600px wide.
18. **Write a 40-character tagline** — the one that shows up next to your logo in directories.
19. **Write a 300-character description** — the one that shows up in meta tags.
20. **Write a 2000-character long description** — for directory submissions that allow it.

### Audience

21. **Build a 50-person launch list.** Friends, beta users, people who'd want this.
22. **Join 3 relevant Discord/Slack/Reddit communities** 4 weeks before launch. Participate, don't promote.
23. **Publish 2 problem-focused posts** on Dev.to, Indie Hackers, or your own blog in the run-up.
24. **Line up 1-3 creators** to cross-post on launch day. A genuine mention beats a paid sponsorship.

### Systems

25. **Set up a support inbox** (email or Intercom). Launches surface bugs fast.
26. **Create a status page** so power users can see uptime.
27. **Pre-write 5 onboarding emails** in Resend/Loops/Postmark.
28. **Set up error tracking** (Sentry or similar).
29. **Load test**. Your launch-day traffic will be 10-100× normal. Bill-shock costs money, but downtime costs trust.

## Phase 2 — Launch week

### T-3 days

30. **Tease on Twitter/LinkedIn.** One post per day: screenshot, lesson, feature. Don't say "launching Tuesday."
31. **Email your 50-person list** with a 48-hour early access link.

### T-1 day

32. **Queue your directory submissions.** You'll push them live on launch day in batches, not all at once.
33. **Draft your Hacker News title.** Format: "Show HN: \[Product\] — \[specific outcome\]". Test 3 variants with friends.
34. **Write your ScrollLaunch listing** with the keyword phrases your buyers Google.
35. **Finalize your 280-char launch tweet.** Include a video, not a screenshot.

### Launch day

36. **Submit to ScrollLaunch** at 9am UTC. The weekly ranking locks at end of week, so earlier = more upvote compounding.
37. **Post Show HN at 7-9am PT** on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
38. **Post your launch tweet and pin it.**
39. **Email your list the "we're live" version.**
40. **Submit to BetaList, AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, and category-specific directories** throughout the day.
41. **Respond to every comment within 10 minutes** for the first 6 hours. Engagement compounds.
42. **Do a 15-minute live Twitter Space or X Space** at peak hours.

## Phase 3 — Post-launch (T+1 day to T+4 weeks)

43. **T+1: Write a retrospective.** Include traffic, signups, surprises. Post to Indie Hackers.
44. **T+3: Submit to the "long tail" of 20+ smaller directories** for SEO backlinks. [See our directory list](/directories).
45. **T+7: Publish a guest post** on a category blog, with a natural backlink to your landed product page.
46. **T+14: Launch a referral program.** Your week-1 users are your strongest amplifiers.
47. **T+28: Run a "one month later" post.** Lessons, changed pricing, unexpected use cases — this becomes evergreen content.

## The meta-rule

The single biggest mistake we see is treating launch day as the goal. **Launch day is the kickoff of compound growth, not the prize.** The product page, the backlinks, and the content you publish in weeks 2-4 generate more traffic in months 3-12 than the launch spike.

Ship the product, run the checklist, trust the compounding.

## FAQ

### How long does a proper SaaS launch take to plan?

Plan on 3-4 weeks of pre-launch work. You can compress it to one week for a side project, but you'll leave 80% of the organic traffic on the table.

### What day of the week should I launch?

Tuesday or Wednesday, 9am UTC-ish. Avoid Mondays (busy inboxes), Fridays (low engagement), and major holidays. For ScrollLaunch, earlier in the ISO week means more upvote compounding.

### How many launches do I need?

Plan for 8-12 directory submissions and 2-3 "big" launches (Hacker News, Product Hunt or ScrollLaunch, a viral Twitter thread). Each layer covers a different audience.

### What's the ROI of submitting to small directories?

Each dofollow DR 40-70 backlink is worth between $30 and $300 on backlink marketplaces, and you get it for free. Plus the direct traffic compounds. Skip any directory below DR 30 unless it's a niche category hub.

### Should I pay for Premium Listings?

If the platform has real traffic and your margins support it, yes. On ScrollLaunch, a Premium Listing at $49 gets you a verified badge and priority placement. Whether it's worth it depends on your product's LTV.