Indie Product Launch Checklist: 30 Things to Check Before You Launch

Indie Product Launch Checklist: 30 Things to Check Before You Launch

Launching a product is exciting.

It's also surprisingly easy to forget something important.

You might spend weeks building the product, preparing the landing page, and writing your launch post — only to realize that the favicon is missing, the mobile layout is broken, the sitemap isn't configured, or your product name has a trademark problem.

This checklist is designed for indie founders and builders preparing to launch a new product, SaaS, app, or side project.

Work through it before launch and make sure the important details aren't hiding in the gaps.

1. Validate the product name

Before spending time building a brand around a name, make sure you can actually use it.

• Product name chosen
• Domain availability checked
• Trademark availability checked
• Social handles checked
• Existing products and companies researched
• Competitors researched

Your product name is one of the hardest things to change after launch.

Check more than just the .com domain. Look at trademarks, social platforms, app stores, existing companies, and other places where the name might already be in use.

A name that looks available at first glance can still create problems later.

For a broader name validation check, you can use NameSpyAI to check domains, trademarks, social handles, apps, and other availability signals together.

The goal isn't to find a "perfect" name.

The goal is to avoid discovering a serious naming problem after you've already built the brand.

2. Get the website ready

Your landing page doesn't need to be complicated.

It does need to make sense within a few seconds.

• Landing page is live
• Value proposition is clear
• Primary CTA is obvious
• Pricing is clear, if applicable
• Favicon is added
• Open Graph/social sharing image is added
• Website works on mobile
• Basic SEO metadata is configured

Ask someone who knows nothing about your product to open the landing page.

Then ask them:

If the answer is unclear, your landing page probably needs work.

Check your social preview

Paste your URL into the platforms where you expect people to share it.

Make sure the title, description, and image look correct.

A missing OG image can make a carefully prepared launch look unfinished when someone shares it.

3. Check the technical setup

A product can work perfectly on your laptop and still have problems in production.

Before launch, verify the infrastructure.

• Analytics configured
• Sitemap configured
• robots.txt checked
• Google Search Console configured
• Error monitoring configured
• Privacy policy added
• Terms added, if applicable
• Production environment tested

Test the production environment

Don't assume that because staging works, production works.

Create a real test account if possible and walk through the complete experience.

Check authentication, API calls, emails, payments, redirects, and any third-party integrations.

Also check your environment variables.

A surprisingly common launch problem is a production environment variable that was configured differently from development.

4. Prepare your launch assets

Your launch will be much easier if the assets are ready before launch day.

• Product demo or video is ready
• Screenshots are ready
• Product Hunt listing is ready, if applicable
• X launch post is ready
• Founder story or background is ready
• Community launch plan is prepared
• Email announcement is ready, if applicable

Don't wait until launch day to create everything.

Prepare the screenshots, copy, videos, and links beforehand.

That leaves you with more time to actually talk to users when the product goes live.

Your founder story matters

People don't just discover products.

They discover the people building them.

Have a simple explanation ready for:

• Why did you build this?
• What problem were you trying to solve?
• Who is it for?
• What did you learn while building it?

You don't need a dramatic story.

An honest explanation is usually enough.

5. Run the final checks

You're almost ready.

Now pretend you're a completely new user.

• Test signup and onboarding
• Test payment flow, if applicable
• Test every primary CTA
• Test on mobile
• Check for broken links
• Check page-load performance
• Check spelling and copy
• Verify the production domain

Don't just click around randomly.

Follow the exact path a new user will take.

For example:

Landing page → signup → onboarding → core feature → result → payment

If that journey works without confusion, you're in a much better position to launch.

A simple launch-readiness check

Before you launch, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Can people understand what I'm building?

If someone lands on your homepage, the product and its value should be understandable quickly.

2. Can people actually use it?

Signup, onboarding, core functionality, and important CTAs should work in production.

3. Can I legally and practically use the brand?

Your domain being available doesn't automatically mean your name is safe to use.

Check trademarks, existing businesses, social handles, app stores, and other relevant platforms.

4. Can people find and share it?

Make sure your SEO basics, sitemap, social preview, favicon, and launch assets are ready.

5. Can I handle the first users?

You don't need a perfect support system.

You do need a way to see problems, respond to users, and fix anything that breaks.

The 30-point launch checklist

Here's the complete version in one place:

Before building

• Product name chosen
• Domain checked
• Trademark checked
• Social handles checked
• Existing products and companies researched
• Competitors researched

Website

• Landing page is live
• Clear value proposition
• Clear CTA
• Pricing is clear
• Favicon added
• OG/social sharing image added
• Mobile responsive
• Basic SEO metadata added

Technical

• Analytics configured
• Sitemap configured
• robots.txt checked
• Search Console configured
• Error monitoring configured
• Privacy policy added
• Terms added, if applicable
• Production environment tested

Launch assets

• Product demo/video ready
• Screenshots ready
• Product Hunt listing ready
• X launch post ready
• Founder story ready
• Community launch plan prepared
• Email announcement ready

Final checks

• Signup/onboarding tested
• Payment flow tested
• Primary CTAs tested
• Mobile tested
• Broken links checked
• Page performance checked
• Spelling and copy checked
• Production domain verified

Don't wait for everything to be perfect

A launch checklist is useful because it catches things that are easy to overlook.

But don't let the checklist become another form of procrastination.

Your product doesn't need to be perfect before you launch.

It needs to be usable, understandable, and ready for real users.

Launch.

Talk to users.

Fix what breaks.

Then keep improving.

That's the real launch loop.