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Ask HN: Why do many start ups have a "we launch soon" site?
If you have a viable product to show, promoting your site/service makes sense to me.
But why should you promote a site/service and all you see is a landing page that states "we launch soon"?
- dgunn 15y agoThere are a few good reasons to make a launching soon page. We made one because it allowed us to determine some visual standards for our actual product (branding, site layout, etc.) and we're using it as a way to find our users. We created a competition that lets people vote on where we launch first. We're actually going to move to which ever city wins. It seems to be working. I think people like the idea of having control over our future. If you’re going to request email addresses, I recommend playing an angle like this or offering something. In the past we’ve asked for emails for nothing in return and we got basically zero.
- willvarfar 15y ago1) you want to ensure no-one else has the named domain 2) there are people who you have shared the name with; if they do type it into a browser, they should be reaffirmed that they remembered it correctly etc
- kilian 15y ago3) to create buzz/get a list of people they can email when they actually launch.
- tfb 15y agoI'm with you on this. I always thought it was kind of silly but I guess having even a single page that says "Launching Soon!" is better than nothing at all. <shamelessPlug>My startup, http://www.loggur.com http://www.loggur.com, says we're launching soon but I actually did take a few weeks to describe it in as much detail as I can on the site. There are at least a dozen pages of details.</shamelessPlug>
- PonyGumbo 15y agoI got a kick out of the "Help us get featured on:" section. My first reaction was, "How on earth did they get onto... OH. Clever."
- neilayton 15y agoI have used a landing page with an email catcher as an opportunity to get the value proposition out there and start building a database to allow you to hit the ground running when you actually launch. If you can attract users to signup with a simple value proposition, it is a good start.
- joshbert 15y agoYou want to keep your customers informed about the status of your project. However, you did hit the nail on the head; it's better to have a viable product to show or something to offer to potential customers/users in exchange of their email addresses.
- damoncali 15y agoYou shouldn't. You should at least put some relevant content up to get Googlebot's attention. A simple "We're launching soon" is pretty weak unless you've got some sort of angle (hype, pr, etc) that makes people want to sign up for it.
- nurik 15y agoThanks! Yeah, I totally see the quid pro quo and to offer something in exchange for emails
- kolinko 15y agoThe reason is that you usually start talking with the potential customers about the idea before you have a product ready. You bounce your idea from people on barcamps, you discuss the idea on forums, etc. Now - these people quite often want to know when you launch, and the best way is to give them the website address, so they can leave their e-mail address on it. So: promoting a landing page? Makes no sense. But talking about the idea before you have a prototype - definitely!
- anothertodd 15y agoI did that when i was working on previous startup, but for now me and cofounder are just trying to show prototype really quickly. No sleeps, Lots of snacks and redbulls- but I think prototype > 'launch soon' site. You can even get some sample reference datas. Whatever it looks like, something that actually communicate with potential users is better, i think :)