Two very different ways to put a product into the world

Once you’re ready to launch, you have a real choice about how loud to be.

A soft launch is quiet. The product becomes available, but only to a small group, and you don’t announce it widely. The point is to get real users without much fanfare, learn fast, and improve before anyone is paying attention.

A hard launch is loud. You announce the product across channels you have access to — press, social, email, partnerships. You aim for a wave of attention concentrated into a short window.

Both are legitimate. They suit very different situations. Picking on purpose, instead of by default, makes the launch much more likely to do its job.

When a soft launch is the right move

Soft launches are usually right when you’re still uncertain about th...

Soft launch vs hard launch (and when to use each)