Wow has the company launch changed over the last few years, and yet it’s so much the same.  Most startups are climbing up from bootstrap beginnings, so money is tight.  Other than a Website, marketing is limited to public relations and sometimes industry events.  It’s the rare startup that can afford advertising or direct marketing out of the box.

For a Web-based business, the reality is that there are few instant hits.  Many of the companies that you read about on the cover of Forbes or Fortune are five-year overnight successes.  When you visit their Websites and check out the press section, you often see a record of years of strategy definition, traction in markets, reorganization and then, maybe, hitting on the formula that generates clicks and dollars.  In between, there’s a lot of hard work to get to that success.

So, now that we’ve painted the picture, what does the contemporary company launch look like?  Well, it’s like it was before the rise of the Internet, but it’s evolved, too.

Pre-launch.  The Alpha and Beta.  This is where the initial buzz is started.  Getting killerstartups, mashable, gigaom, gizmodo, or the granddaddy of them all, techcrunch to write about your pre-launch site is crucial, especially if your early life depends on Web traffic.  How you go about this is a little counter-intuitive; work with us on the pitch, but it’s best if it comes directly from you.  Most of these bloggers greatly prefer to develop a relationship with company insiders.

While you’re working the bloggers, you need to assess the interest your site or company will have with industry analysts.   These people are still very influential, especially in consumer and enterprise technology markets.  We'll help you target the influential analysts, schedule the briefing and present yourself in the best light.  Analysts are important as journalist sources, for their strategic feedback and because the right ones can help you greatly in business development - even before you are a paying client.

During these early days, you also need to start generating what we’ve come to call “use case scenarios” that can be brought to life with real users.  Recruiting these early adopters to speak with bloggers and traditional media is important to validating that you matter.

And speaking of bloggers, once you’ve started your beta, it’s time for you to blog.  Every development at your company is blogworthy…just make sure your PR firm has had a chance to pitch it online and off before you write about it.  Nothing is worse for a pitch than for a blogger or journalist to read it on your blog before he or she can write about it.

Now that you’re blogging, we’ll pitch you to relevant events as a possible speaker.  We’ll also look at events that might be a good launch venue.  You might shake up this whole cookbook to attend DEMO, a twice-yearly coming out party for new technology.  A good showing at DEMO can catalyze all the initiatives described on the page, but you have to compete to launch at DEMO.  If a launch at DEMO isn't for you (or you're not for them), there are likely industry or consumer shows where you might get a great launch platform.

Many of our classic company launch success stories end up as multiyear introductory campaigns.  Sometimes it’s hard for entrepreneurs to believe that it will work out that way.  But take a look at the press section for Covestor , a company we launched in June, 2007.  While we are beginning to look at other strategies as its business development warrants, we are still introducing its innovative concept as well.  It’s still fresh.  We also did a multi-year introduction for Pelham Sloane , an innovative manufacturer of all-in-one PCs that pre-dates the iMac (really, it's true).  Its strategy for success isn't consumer markets, so that's why you may never have heard of them.  We brought in go-to-market experts from Saugatuck Technology to assess market entry strategies pre-launch to optimize return on investment.  Although it's taken a few years, the initial strategy has kicked in, and now they're kickin'.

If your firm is in a turnaround, many of these steps apply, too.

Sparked your interest?  Like the way we think? Great!  Contact us, so we can learn more about you, and you about us.  Maybe we can orchestrate a great launch for you, too.