Startup Press Release

A press release in isolation is rarely a launch. It's a document that lands in a few inboxes, gets skimmed, and disappears. A launch is a coordinated campaign where every channel reinforces the same story — press, Product Hunt, founder thread, investor posts, customer testimonials, internal team comms — all aligned on one narrative spine and timed for compound effect. This skill builds that coordination.

The spine runs in five parts: Before, Tension, Breakthrough, Impact, Future. Every channel pulls from the same spine. The press release leads with the news (who, what, when, where, why in the first paragraph, not the third). The Product Hunt listing leads with the benefit in 60 characters. The social thread leads with the hook, not the company name. The founder quote says something human about why this matters personally — not "we're thrilled to announce," which conveys nothing and signals marketing copy to journalists who specifically want news.

The 21-day timeline is the part most launches skip. T-14 is embargo outreach to journalists, with the strongest two contacts pitched first and exclusively if appropriate. T-7 to T-3 builds anticipation without specifics. T-0 is coordinated launch across press, Product Hunt, social, email, and community in a narrow window. T+1 to T+7 is the part that actually matters most — engaging every comment, amplifying press coverage, posting follow-up content, and turning the launch from a moment into a week-long story.

The skill is opinionated about a few things. Journalists want news, not marketing — superlatives and promises kill a pitch, facts and specific numbers earn coverage. Coordinate your army: every advisor, investor, friend, and supporter should know what to post and when, and the skill writes their copy for them so amplification is one click, not one favour. And the deliverable is calibrated to the situation: founders with no press contacts get a Product Hunt-and-community-first plan plus a journalist research homework brief, not a fantasy of national coverage that won't happen.