

Ask HN: Launching an App on Thanksgiving? - stangeek

I&#x27;m launching an iOS app specifically targeted at the HN audience, and given current appstore ETA and date of submission there&#x27;s a strong probability it will be approved on Thanksgiving... What do you recommend? Launch on Thanksgiving anyway, or this is a bad launch period (people spending time with their family) and I should delay until the week after ?
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mschaecher
I've managed tons of product launches at Airbnb, Munchery and other startups
as a consultant.

Do not launch on Thanksgiving. Trust me. Delay until the week after.

Also you should know that Thanksgiving through New Years is by far the worst
time of year to try and launch a new (consumer) product of any kind. Every
single (consumer) product in the world fights a bloody battle for attention
and sales this time of year. Every store, every brand and every product
category will be filled with promotions and/or slightly new offerrings.

If you must launch during that window, what you're launching must be either a)
fucking amazing itself or b) your fucking amazing at marketing to cut through
all that noise.

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stangeek
Thanks, this is more or less what I thought. From your experience then, when
is the optimal time of year to get attention for a new product?

This is slightly different for my app as it's only targeted at HN users, and
my intention is not to make a living off it. Still I'd like to make sure it
gets a fair chance to be noticed.

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timrosenblatt
Take my, and everyone's advice, with a grain of salt. Few people have
experienced enough launches to offer a very objective view of the patterns, so
you're going to have to make the decision for yourself.

As a rule of thumb, from the launches I've seen and been close to, they are
not make-or-break for a company/product. You might get a bit of buzz, you
might have a TC or RWW article about you, but as I think of successful
startups that I didn't personally know, I can remember only a few launch days.

The important factor is in one of two categories:

1) consumer app: the app produces a TON of value, and everyone tells the
people they know (viral growth)

2) business app: viral growth is a factor, but there's probably going to be a
lot of sales-y activity required.

Neither of these categories are largely dependent on a launch. A launch is
more important when you've already got a ton of eyeballs.

Again, this is a rule of thumb, and I'm not aware of a single person who I
would say is a true expert around launches.

What do you think?

