Writing a launch page: name, tagline, description, images and first comment

A launch listing is read in seconds. A visitor scans a list, sees a name, a line of text and a small image, and decides whether to click. If they click, they read the first lines of the description and look at one screenshot. That is the whole funnel.

This guide covers each part. It belongs to our launch playbook; the steps before it are in the pre-launch checklist.

The name

You probably have one. Three checks before launch:

• Is it the same everywhere? The name on the listing, the site title, the app store and the domain should match. People search for what they saw.
• Is it readable out loud? If you have to spell it, add a short pronunciation or keep the listing plain.
• Does it need a word of context? A coined name says nothing. That is fine, as long as the tagline does the work.

Don't put the tagline into the name ("Paywhistle: AI invoices for freelancers"). Most launch sites have a separate tagline field; Every Debut's name field allows 2 to 40 characters.

The tagline

The tagline is the most important line you will write. It sits next to the name in every list.

A good tagline says what it does and for whom. It avoids words that could describe any product.

These are examples, not real products. Notice that the better versions are not longer. They swap adjectives for facts.

A few rules of thumb:

• Lead with the verb or the noun people search for: "invoices", "screen recorder", "uptime monitor".
• Drop "AI-powered" unless AI is the point. Nearly everything uses it now, so it no longer tells a reader anything.
• Avoid exclamation marks and emoji. They make the line harder to scan.
• Keep it under 70 characters. Every Debut accepts 10 to 70; most lists cut longer lines.

Test it: show the tagline alone to someone and ask "What does this do?" If their answer is wrong, the tagline is wrong.

The description

The description is read by people who already clicked. They want to know if this is for them. Use this order:

1. The problem, in one or two sentences. Specific, in the reader's words. "Freelancers lose a day a month chasing unpaid invoices."
2. What the product does. Three to five concrete things, as a short list.
3. Who it is for, and who it is not for. "Built for solo freelancers. Not for agencies with approval workflows."
4. What it costs. Free, freemium, a price, or "free during beta until March". Readers trust a stated price.
5. What is not done yet. One line. "No mobile app yet; the web app works on phones."
6. Where to start. "Try the demo without an account" or "Start free; no card."

Every Debut asks for 120 to 2,000 characters. Most good descriptions land between 400 and 900. If yours is longer, the extra text probably belongs on your website.

Things to leave out:

• Claims you cannot back up ("the best", "the fastest", "loved by thousands").
• Numbers you cannot show. If you say "used by 2,000 teams", be ready to be asked how you count.
• Testimonials from friends presented as customers.
• A list of every feature. Pick the ones that make the first five minutes worth it.

A worked example

Here is a description for an imaginary product, written to this structure:

Freelancers lose hours every month chasing invoices that are already late.

Paywhistle sends the invoice, reminds the client politely on day 3, 7 and 14, and marks it paid when the money arrives in your bank.

• Invoices in 30 seconds from a saved client
• Reminders you can edit, sent from your own address
• Bank-feed matching for EU and UK accounts

Built for solo freelancers. Not for agencies with approval steps.

Free for up to 5 invoices a month, then $8 a month. No US bank feeds yet.

Try the demo workspace without signing up.

It is about 500 characters. A reader knows what it does, who it is for, what it costs and what is missing.

Images

Most people look at one image. Make it count.

• Lead with the most useful screen. Not the login page, not the logo. The screen where the value is visible.
• Make text readable. If a screenshot is shrunk to a card, can you still read the important part? Crop to it, or zoom the browser to 125% before capturing.
• Use real product screens. Readers can tell mock-ups from the real thing, and Show HN's audience in particular expects working software. Annotate with one short caption at most.
• Show the result, then the steps. Image 1: the outcome. Images 2 to 4: how you get there. A last image can show pricing or integrations.
• Write alt text. Describe what the image shows, not a slogan. The Open Graph protocol defines og:image:alt as "a description of what is in the image (not a caption)", which is a good rule for every image.

Every Debut accepts PNG, JPEG, WebP and GIF (first frame) up to 5 MB each. It converts gallery images to WebP up to 1,600 pixels wide and the logo to 256 by 256 pixels, and removes metadata. A listing needs a logo and 1 to 6 gallery images.

A short screen recording helps for products with motion, such as editors and games. Keep it under a minute, start with the result, and add captions, because most people watch without sound.

The first comment

On most launch platforms the maker posts the first comment. On Every Debut it is called the launch note. It is where people decide whether there is a real person behind the product.

A good first comment has five parts:

1. Why you built it. One or two sentences about the moment you needed it.
2. What it does now. One paragraph. Don't repeat the description word for word.
3. What it costs, especially if the listing doesn't say.
4. One honest limitation. It earns more trust than another feature.
5. The feedback you want. Ask a specific question.

Example, for the imaginary product above:

Hi, I'm the maker of Paywhistle. I freelanced for six years and lost more time to late invoices than to bad clients. So I built the reminder system I wanted: polite, on a schedule, and from my own address.

Today it does invoices, reminders and bank matching for EU and UK accounts. It's free up to 5 invoices a month.

What it doesn't do yet: US bank feeds and multi-currency invoices. Both are next.

One question for freelancers here: what is the first thing you check before sending a reminder? I'm deciding what the reminder screen should show.

Avoid three things in the first comment:

• Asking for votes. Peerlist's guidelines say "Do not ask for upvotes", Hacker News asks people not to ask friends to vote, and on Every Debut makers cannot vote for their own product at all.
• A wall of feature bullets copied from the website.
• Discount codes as the main message. Fine at the end; not as the reason to care.

Dub prepared its launch post, first comment and announcement e-mail before launch day, so it could spend the day replying. Do the same: write the first comment a week early and edit it the day before.

Categories, pricing and platform fields

Small fields matter for search and filters:

• Categories: choose the one or two a buyer would browse, not the broadest ones. Every Debut allows one to three.
• Pricing model: be exact. "Freemium" means a free plan with limits, not a free trial.
• Platforms: list only what works today. A "coming soon" iOS app is not a platform.
• Links: website, app store and source code if public. Use the same tagged links you set up for tracking.

Before you submit

Read the listing on a phone, as a stranger would, and check:

• Does the tagline say what it does and for whom?
• Do the first two lines of the description name the problem?
• Is the first image readable at card size?
• Is the price stated?
• Is there one honest limitation?
• Does the first comment ask a real question?

Then plan the days themselves with the launch week plan. If you launch a content site, shop or service business, read launching a website, not an app for how the listing changes.

On Every Debut

The listing on Every Debut has the parts above, with the limits mentioned: name 2 to 40 characters, tagline 10 to 70, description 120 to 2,000, a logo, 1 to 6 images and a launch note. When you paste your website address on the submit page, we pre-fill what we can find on the page, and you edit it. For the first 48 hours of a launch week, lists are shuffled and no numbers are shown, so the listing itself, not an early vote count, decides whether people click. The rules are on how it works.