The launch plan · 01 GTM strategy

Phase 0: soft launch (from the week of 19 October 2026)#

People "attached to us or one step away from us": the founders' network, the roughly 30 contacts sent the link on 15 October, existing referrers and the tracker. No public announcement or paid promotion.

Gates before the first payment (D29). A written launch inventory, including the acceptable-bug line and who tells customers (Dom, with John). Payment end to end at £69 in production, a refund tested, and tranche logic that does not reprice existing subscriptions (Alex, Dom). T&Cs, privacy notice and the D15 and D18 founding terms published (Karl). The website cleared of "Locked", "61 live features", "Official platform APIs only, never scrapes", "SLA, Legal SKU and Microsoft Marketplace purchasing", "Pulse" and the 30 October date (Alex, Dom). Any seats-remaining figure read from billing, with "limited seats remaining" as fallback (Dom). John has run three full Holly-first demos on the live build.

Founding Design Partner programme (D4)#

Built on Dom's ask for "one engaged early customer on the minimum subscription who talks to the team constantly".

Element	Terms
Size	Target three recruited by launch week, at least one live (paid and onboarded); up to five until customer success cover exists; up to ten once it does. Law is a stretch goal, not a gate
Price	At least the minimum subscription at the band open when they sign; their real seat count once ready. No discount or free period. Law: paid scoped pilot (D17)
They give	A weekly 20-minute call for 12 weeks; usage data; a named internal owner; two peer introductions if value is shown; a written-consent case study after 90 days only if agreed criteria are met
They get	A named product owner (by default John); done-for-you voice set-up; a policy template mapped to approval rules; requests heard, never promised; a quarterly founder review
Criteria (at signing)	For example: 80% of seats with a voice by day 7; a majority of paid seats meeting the posting habit in days 60 to 90; approvals inside one working day; zero regretted posts
Selection	ICP fit with two readiness points; the six qualification tests met; not an ALS client or connected to the founders' other businesses without Alex's say-so

The law route is Alex's own legal-sector network (no client of his is named or approached without his say-so), then local law societies and PM Forum. Target: one firm with a written mutual action plan by 27 November, signing in Q1 2027.

Phase 1: public launch week, Monday 9 to Friday 13 November 2026 (internal target, D22)#

Gate: Phase 0 gates met and design partners recruited. Demand check, not a blocker: if no account outside the partners has paid by Friday 6 November, review offer and message before Day 5. If the gate fails, the week moves back a week at a time; 31 December never moves. One announcement a day, weekdays only.

Day	Announcement	Proof
Mon 9	Alex's founder story, sincere, told as the method	His figures as method proof only (re-confirm)
Tue 10	Holly and the trust ladder: "Holly does the work. You keep the judgement."	Launch video (D22); if none by 2 November, a screen-recorded walkthrough by the commercial lead
Wed 11	Governance for firms where one post is a career risk	Demo clip, no customer names
Thu 12	Our own marketer posted only through it for a week	Only with her consent and Alex's; else the ALS story
Fri 13	The founding bands, the date and the rules in full	Live billing count or none

Rule

No Product Hunt. No satire in sales claims (D7). Every claim from the claims register. Affiliates and influencers get approved copy, an "Ad" label up front (the ASA treats the brand as jointly liable) and no scarcity lines of their own. Any waiting list gets a private window and personal founder messages first.

Phase 2: scale (gated, not dated)#

Paid acquisition: two consecutive cohorts at 40% activation and month-one churn at 6% or less. Case studies: criteria met, consent signed. Engagement-led claims: D1 cleared. Wider outbound: D20 cleared. Agency tier: per-account cost known. Event spend: revenue and tracked follow-up.