The 3-Day Launch Plan
You finished the product. You have 3 days before launch. Here's the order.
Day -3: SEO and Legal
This is the boring day. Most indie hackers skip it and regret it.
- Unique title + meta description on every page (30 min)
- Canonical URL on every page (10 min)
- Sitemap.xml + robots.txt (10 min)
- OG image (1200×630), Twitter card tags (45 min if you draw it, 5 min if you use a template)
- Favicon + apple-touch-icon (20 min)
- Privacy Policy and Terms of Service via Termly or Iubenda (60 min)
- Contact email linked in footer (2 min)
Total: about half a day if you move quickly.
Day -2: Infrastructure and Payments
- HTTPS with HSTS header (usually 1 click on Vercel/Cloudflare)
- GA4 installed, one conversion event defined (30 min)
- Google Search Console verified, sitemap submitted (15 min)
- Sentry or similar error monitoring (20 min)
- If paid: Stripe live keys, webhook endpoint verified end-to-end, real-card test in production, receipts going to inbox not spam (2-3 hours)
- Cookie banner if you have any EU/UK traffic (15 min with Cookiebot free)
Day -1: Content and Distribution Prep
- Draft your Twitter/X launch thread (title post + 3-5 follow-up tweets with GIFs)
- Draft your Product Hunt listing: tagline, description, gallery, maker comment
- Draft your newsletter email
- Research the relevant subreddit (read sticky posts, check rules about self-promotion)
- Ask 5-10 friends to bookmark your PH URL (don't say "upvote", that's a rules violation, but reminders work)
- Charge your phone and laptop. Sleep early.
Day 0: Launch
- 00:01 PT: submit to Product Hunt
- 00:05 PT: post pinned Twitter/X thread
- 00:10 PT: send newsletter
- 00:30 PT: monitor PH comments, reply within 10 minutes for first 4 hours
- 08:00 local: post to Reddit if sub rules allow; post Show HN if relevant
- Every 20 minutes: check error monitoring, support inbox, Stripe dashboard (if paid)
- Evening: thank-you post on Twitter/X with day-1 stats
What goes wrong
Most common day-0 failures: payments stuck in test mode, webhook not firing, sitemap not submitted, privacy policy page 404, a broken mobile layout on iPhone safari (different from desktop safari). The checklist catches all five.
The honest expectation
A solo indie first launch in 2026, with no prior audience, averages 30-80 Product Hunt upvotes, 200-1,000 visitors, and 3-15 signups on day 1. That's okay. The launch isn't the finish line, it's the indexable event that Google, HN, and PH use to evaluate you for the next 90 days.