Why product launches are equal parts terror and triumph (and how to survive the roller coaster)
Every product launch is a massive adventure where everything is on the line.
Will it blow up or fizzle?
What hidden flaws will emerge the moment REAL customers start using it?
How many four-alarm crisis calls (and all-caps emails) will I get from panicked founders?
Right now, my team and I are helping launch a guitar tech product that eliminates single-coil buzz in Stratocaster guitars — a problem that’s frustrated guitarists for more than 70 years.
It’s called BzzzzKill in case you’re a Strat player or wanna to take a look.
One of our YouTube videos hit 20,000 organic views — and climbing — in four days.
In the guitar world, (especially for a very niche guitar product) that’s lightning in a bottle.
I know to savor these moments because they’re rare and fleeting.
But here’s what I’ve learned from dozens of launches:
Individual victories don’t create sustainable businesses. Flywheels do.
That viral video is amazing, but it’s just one piece of a complex puzzle. We need the product to perform flawlessly, customer support to handle inquiries smoothly, manufacturing to keep up with demand, and distribution partnerships to scale efficiently.
Every launch teaches you the same humbling lesson: success requires everything to work together, not just one thing to work spectacularly.
The stress is real and constant.
One moment you’re celebrating organic reach that exceeds all projections.
The next, you’re troubleshooting why the checkout process is mysteriously failing for mobile users. (Not in this case, thankfully.)
It’s dopamine overdoses followed by cortisol crashes, sometimes within the same hour.
In Chapter 15 of I Need That, I explain how product success depends on achieving critical mass — that magic moment when all systems align and growth becomes sustainable rather than sporadic.
But getting there requires treating each surprise as data, not drama.
That YouTube win? HUGE signal that we’ve tapped into genuine need.
Love it.
But it’s not proof of long-term viability until we see conversion rates, customer retention, and repeat purchases.
Those are what make a business.
A manufacturing tweak that delays shipments by a few days …
Frustrating, but not catastrophic if we communicate transparently with customers and learn from the process.
Every surprise can be viewed as either crisis or victory, but most are just moments in time.
The founders who survive stressful launches intact are the ones who can ride the emotional waves without getting thrown overboard.
Product Payoff: When Away luggage launched, their initial viral moment came from a single Instagram post by a travel influencer that generated 50,000 views overnight. But instead of celebrating and hoping for more viral moments, they immediately analyzed what made that content resonate and systematized their influencer outreach process. They built sustainable growth mechanisms rather than chasing lightning strikes, ultimately reaching $12 million in revenue their first year through consistent execution across all channels.
Today’s launch survival tip:
Before your next big moment, create systems that can handle both success and setbacks. Build buffers for demand spikes, communication plans for delays, and metrics that measure sustainable progress rather than just viral moments.
Remember that the most successful launches look boring from the outside because all the drama gets managed behind the scenes.
What’s the most stressful (or wildest) moment you’ve experienced during a product launch?
Poke the reply arrow and share your launch roller coaster stories — the good, the bad, and the “I can’t believe THAT actually happened.”
Or reach out to my team of product launch strategy specialists at Graphos Product.