Launch guide

The launch week

Every launch in a week shares the same clock. Weeks start Monday at 12:00 AM Pacific time.

1. MonHidden counts give every launch a fair start, whether it went live first thing Monday or on Wednesday afternoon.
2. ThuRanking begins. Products approved from now on launch the following Monday.
3. MonThe week locks. Its final ranking is frozen, ordered by upvotes, and the winners are announced.

How ranking works

• While a board is running, verified products come first, then everyone else. Verification is a one-time $5 per product.
• Within each group, the launch with more upvotes ranks higher.
• Launches with the same upvotes share a rank, and the next rank is skipped.

Product D has the most upvotes but ranks 4th, because verified launches come first. B and C tie at 2nd, so there is no 3rd. When a board locks, its final order is by upvotes alone.

Monthly and yearly boards

Every launch also competes on a monthly and a yearly board. A launch counts toward the month its launch week ends in: a week that runs Sep 28 to Oct 4 counts toward October. Months lock on the 1st and years on January 1, ordered by upvotes.

Upvotes

Anyone with an AINave account can upvote a launch, as long as:

• They’re signed in with a confirmed email. Signing in with Google counts as confirmed.
• They don’t own the product. Makers can’t upvote their own launches.
• It’s one upvote per account per launch, and every upvote counts the same.

Where an upvote counts

1. During launch weekThe weekly board
2. After the week locksThe monthly board
3. After the month locksThe yearly board
4. After the year locksSocial proof only

Upvoting never closes, so a good product keeps collecting support. Share your launch page with the people who use your product, and let them decide. Upvotes from fake accounts or vote trading may be removed.

Awards and badges

When a board locks, its top 3 launches win an award badge you can put on your website.

Launches that tie share the award. A top 3 launch below the minimum keeps its rank but doesn’t get a badge.

Find your badges and their embed code in Dashboard › Launches › Badges.

Launching again

Shipped something big? Launch again with a new story: a new feature, a substantial improvement or a redesign. Each launch gets its own page, and all of them appear on your product’s Launches tab.

• Pick any launch week up to 8 weeks ahead, or this week if it’s still Monday to Wednesday.
• A product can have one upcoming launch at a time.
• Start one from Dashboard › Launches › New launch.

What you’ll need

Review

We review every scheduled launch to check it’s a meaningful update. Small text or pricing changes, or a repeat of an earlier launch, get turned down. You’ll get an email either way. If you edit a launch after it’s approved, it goes back to review.

Make the most of launch week

1. 1
   Lead with a sharp tagline
   Say what it does in one line. “Drafts release notes from your merged pull requests” beats “The ultimate AI writing tool”.
2. 2
   Show, don’t tell
   Add 3 to 5 screenshots of the real product, and a short demo video if you have one.
3. 3
   Share your launch page
   Link people to your launch page, not your homepage, so their upvotes and comments land in one place.
4. 4
   Reply to every comment
   Early questions are your best feedback, and visitors read the replies.
5. 5
   Get verified
   Verified products are listed first while boards are running, for a one-time $5.
6. 6
   Add your badge
   Put the Launched on AINave badge on your site to send visitors your way and earn a followed link.

Frequently asked questions