The startup website launch checklist for day one

Why most launches leak

Launch traffic is the most expensive traffic you will ever get — press, product directories, founder networks, paid amplification — and most of it lands on a site that can't answer the buyer's three questions: what is this, is it for me, and what do I do next. This checklist orders the work so the site, the story, and the measurement are ready on the same day.

Week 0: message before pixels

• One-sentence offer: what changes for the buyer, stated without adjectives.
• Who it's for — and one honest sentence about who it isn't for.
• The single next step (demo, waitlist, request) — not five competing CTAs.
• Proof inventory: what you can actually show today (screenshots, data, pilots). Never fabricate.

Week 1: the conversion surface

• Hero carries outcome + mechanism + CTA above the fold on a 320px viewport.
• Trust appears next to claims: security posture, process, real constraints stated openly.
• Form asks only what the follow-up process needs; qualify on the call, not in fields.
• One FAQ block answering the objections your sales calls actually hear.

Week 2: measurement and consent

• Analytics installed with consent mode: default denied, update on opt-in — GDPR-shaped from day one.
• Conversion events defined before launch (request submitted, demo booked), verified end to end.
• Cookie/settings notice that is reopenable and honest about what loads when.
• Error and empty states instrumented so launch-day failures are visible.

Week 3: SEO and AI-search foundations

• Unique title and meta description per page, keyword-forward, within length limits.
• Sitemap.xml submitted; robots.txt allows the crawlers you want (including named AI agents if AI visibility matters).
• Structured data: Organization, Service/Article where relevant, FAQ blocks.
• Self-referencing canonicals and one canonical host — 301 every duplicate variant.

Week 4: performance and resilience

• LCP under 2s on real mobile connections; images sized and modern-format.
• Zero layout shift: space reserved for embeds, fonts, and forms.
• Redirect map written for every legacy or renamed URL — test each hop.
• Load test the form path: the one flow that must not fail on launch day.

Day one: the final sweep

• Run the full conversion path twice from a phone you've never used.
• Confirm analytics events fire with consent granted and denied.
• Verify the sitemap resolves live and search console properties are verified.
• Name the person who watches errors for the first 48 hours.

How Kiwi runs this as a sprint

Our startup launch system compresses this checklist into fixed milestones — positioning, launch website, product entry, and request handling shipped as one coordinated release. Senior review within 24 hours, kickoff typically within 5 business days, and the same truth rule we apply everywhere: we ship what we can prove, and we tell you what we can't.