2 min lesson
Launch tiers - scale effort to stakes
Use one lesson detail to answer "What's the first thing you'd do when handed a new feature to launch and why does it come before writing any copy?" Keep it direct.
Step 1 of 2
Launch tiers - scale effort to stakesnot every ship is a moment
Choose the tier before building assets. Tier 1 is a major release that earns a full narrative, launch surfaces, demo and enablement; Tier 2 is a notable feature that needs a focused story, demo clip and selected channels; Tier 3 is an incremental change that can ship through the changelog. The tier sets the asset list, channel plan, effort and collaborators, keeping launch investment proportional to the stakes.
- Tier
- Tier 1: major release
- Examples
- A new Agent capability, a model leap, a pricing/packaging shift
- What you produce
- Full narrative: blog, landing page, demo video, founder/X push, DevRel content, enablement
- Effort
- Weeks; cross-functional
- Tier
- Tier 2: notable feature
- Examples
- A meaningful Tab or ⌘K improvement, a new integration
- What you produce
- Blog or deep changelog, demo clip, one or two channels, light enablement
- Effort
- Days; mostly solo
- Tier
- Tier 3: incremental
- Examples
- Quality-of-life fixes, small additions
- What you produce
- Changelog entry, maybe a single tweet if it delights
- Effort
- Hours
| Tier | Examples | What you produce | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: major release | A new Agent capability, a model leap, a pricing/packaging shift | Full narrative: blog, landing page, demo video, founder/X push, DevRel content, enablement | Weeks; cross-functional |
| Tier 2: notable feature | A meaningful Tab or ⌘K improvement, a new integration | Blog or deep changelog, demo clip, one or two channels, light enablement | Days; mostly solo |
| Tier 3: incremental | Quality-of-life fixes, small additions | Changelog entry, maybe a single tweet if it delights | Hours |
Decide the tier early with product. It sets the asset list, the channels and who you need to pull in.
The most expensive launch mistake is writing a beautiful narrative for a feature that hasn't earned one. Observe representative developers using the raw feature and find the use case where it clearly improves their work. If the evidence does not support that use case, the launch is not ready and you say so - that pushback is part of the role.
When asked to walk through a launch, don't open with the blog post. Open with validation - how you'd confirm the feature actually lands with developers before you spend a week on assets. Then name the tier, then the sequence. Leading with PMF validation signals you've shipped real launches, not managed them from a slide, which is exactly the builder-PMM the hiring manager is screening for.
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Optional practice