We are going to be launching our service soon. This is in a pre-release mode and only for restricted customers (enough we can handle basically). I was wondering if anyone has shared/written about how they went about releasing / announcing it in steps ? what they did right / wrong etc. That would be super interesting for me.

Having been a part of many beta releases/launches from the vendor side. being far to picky about who we let in, and not taking their onboarding UX seriously enough. Don't just go after "advanced" users, they DIY their way through issues without you getting to know their issues.

Exactly, that was my concern. We are more developper oriented for now so thank you for sharing that

If it’s a pre-release you probably don’t want the whole product-hunt launch thing. Usually a blogpost is good to generate the right interest as well as reaching out to relevant developer communities and perhaps relevant influencers. And since you want to limit the number of users: have a waitlist, get relevant information when registering and ask for a short conversation first. For good resources look for articles on Superhuman’s GTM (they perfect the waitlist and the white-glove onboarding) and also the Velvet Rope GTM strategy. Either or both seem applicable to you.

What do mean by influencers here, Gwen?