Ask HN: What are your favorite strategies / tactics around launching?

A few months ago I did a talk in Japan around the topic of launching a product. The goal was to discuss different actionable strategies and tactics that will maximize the impact of the launch.

Impact doesn’t just mean “how many users sign up”. It also means what is learned from launching.

I’ve been asked by True Ventures to teach a class on this topic at True University. The general framework of the talk is this:

- Setting the Right Goals

- Choosing the Right Metrics to Track

- Visualizing Metrics (dashboards)

- Promoting the Launch (Press strategies, baked-in-virality strategies)

- Gathering User Feedback (inside and outside the product)

The examples I use in the talk are based around my experience launching 5 products over the past year. While I could just deliver the same talk, I wanted to involve more members of the community to contribute to the insights that will be passed along to a group of about 60 founders and entrepreneurs.

I’d love your stories. I’m looking for more examples to include in my talk and potentially a future TechCrunch post.

Have you every done anything that worked really well (or totally failed)? What have you done that has allowed you to maximize the launch? What’s the best way you’ve learned from your users? What are your favorite strategies and tactics around launching?