THE GREAT LAUNCH

Hello from a flight from NYC to Austin, TX! 

I’m very excited to spend time with my older brother, Josh, best friend, Becca, and be back in a city where I lived for ~2 years. 

If this week taught me anything, it’s that there’s nothing more magical or important than family. 

So, if you’re reading this, I encourage you to send one text to a family member right now. Let them know how much you love them, that you wouldn’t be you if they weren’t them, and that you're proud of who they are in a world that gives you so many choices to be whoever you want. 

My family is my favorite part of life. And every year I get older, that statement gets even more true. 

I hope you’ve had a great week.

I’ve been wanting to write on this newsletter topic for some time now, but waited until more data and companies took swings at this, so I could give you the best insider tips on what works. 

THE GREAT LAUNCH. 

You know when a company takes over the internet, tech Twitter, Slack chats with work besties, and maybe even non-technical friends’ mindspace?

That’s not an accident. It’s certainly not a reflection of how good the product is. 

The great launches we are seeing are heavily orchestrated symphonies in marketing. 

In the past 2 months, each of these companies crushed their launch and likely generated over 10M+ impressions in a single day across X, LinkedIn, and PR. 

It’s cute if you think this is all luck or from one well-edited launch video. 

Knight Vision works on these launches, and I’m here to tell you that’s entirely wrong. 

Today, I’ll walk you through the exact combination of efforts, projected pricing, and careful execution startups are using to crush their launches. 

For new startups, this is a defining “coming out of stealth” moment. For existing startups, these launches often rest on a suite of new products working to solidify them as category leaders. 

Here’s how to do it: 

To frame the media around these launches, it’s important that you understand how the timeline plays a role in their success.

Founders are now waiting months (sometimes 6+) after a fundraise or big product release before officially “launching”. 

This is strategic because they have now been able to show greater results by putting the working capital to use. 

Example: It’s way more interesting to see that someone raised $40M and currently has 30% more customers than they did 6 months ago after putting their new capital to use. 

Example: If your product is replacing existing tools, you need to be better. Again, takes putting capital to work to get results that are strong enough to splash and make a story. 

What you need to do: Pick a launch date. This is the date your video, social posts, story, OOH — everything goes live. This is an EXACT DATE vs. a general ballpark or week.

If you’ve been awake for the last year, you know that winning companies are doubling down on storytelling. 

Picking an enemy. 

Crafting their role as the hero. 

Positioning their product as the golden sword that helps any user crush in battle. 

My friend JD did this so well at With Coverage (watch their launch post/video here). He made these storytelling principles clear: 

The enemy: legacy insurance companies hurting startups

The customer: startups 

How they help: sell software that’s more efficient, technologically up-to-date, and provides a new workflow that’s up-levels a core process

Being able to articulate how your product works both technically and practically is critical. 

Then, it’s always a nice bonus if you can tie it together with how your product is going to change the world. I don’t actually believe all products need this narrative because good products can simply change a workflow or industry vs the world, but it’s definitely helpful if you can do it.

These are now being made 3+ months in advance. Components include: 

My recommendation is to hire a video production team to get this done. These are professionally shot videos that startups are spending weeks on. Don’t rush your launch video; it will look sloppy. 

Reply if you want recs on good video production teams.

All the traffic you create from your launch will go to your company website. 

Make sure it’s:

Your website needs to have tracking pixels that automatically scrape who’s visiting

—> This way, you can retarget customers as you continue growing. 

 If you’re building a story, retargeting is a great way to keep people warm and your product in mind. 

Your launch only works if people see it. I’ve generated 2B+ views online. Here’s how to crush the distribution here: 

Every employee (yes, even ones that consider themselves “offline”) is required to make a list of 25-50 people that they can reach out to to help promote the launch.

This includes investors, friends, family members, colleagues from other companies…literally anyone who can be remotely helpful.

Names are added to a company-wide spreadsheet for tracking. 

~1 week before the launch, employees make contact with their list and share: 

This is highly effective for keeping the narrative and story about your company in line with the larger picture you’re crafting around the launch. 

Companies are setting aside budget to activate B2B creators that their ICP follows. 

→ Click here to read why B2B creator programs are the highest ROI initiative companies are investing in rn and how you can pick creators.

We build creator programs at Knight Vision, and it’s my favorite lever for high-quality distribution. I’ve reviewed over 5K+ creator deals, said no to thousands, and have spent $3M+ on creator content.

Creators bring a level of legitimacy and trust to a launch that customers need to become interested. 

I guarantee Profound spent over $100K+ on creators for their Series C launch. I saw posts and comments from Andrew Yeung, Codie Sanchez, etc about the product. 

Becoming a category leader requires internet buy-in. 

Spending money on creators is a required way to get there now because the value of quality distribution is so high.

I have seen brands lean harder into video stories from customers in 2026.

They prove real people use the product, and a customer saying "this changed how I work" carries trust. Videos are harder to fake, more emotionally resonant, and perform better in feeds than just quotes.

What Makes One Work: A strong customer story needs three things: a clear before (the pain), a specific result (time saved, revenue gained), and authentic delivery. Overly scripted testimonials backfire.

Timing: Drop them on launch day as part of the coordinated content wave

Who to Feature: Pick customers who mirror your ICP. A testimonial from someone adjacent to your target buyer doesn’t work well. The viewer needs to see themselves in the story.

If you really want to take your launch to level 10, on launch day (aka the date all your content goes live), flight out of home marketing too. 

Out-of-home marketing: any advertising that reaches customers while they are in public spaces, commuting, or waiting, designed to build brand awareness with high-impact, visual, and unskippable messaging

This includes: 

Budget: $50-100K in spend for beginner-to-medium execution here. Wrapping a subway car in NYC costs $50K alone for 3 months FYI. 

It’s the the era of “The Great Launch,” and I love working in marketing at this perfect time.

At Knight Vision, we’re helping some incredible companies launch into the world (example: Lightfield). 

Launches span all startup categories.

I just had a highly technical company building sub-quadratic architectures reach out about Knight Vision handling their launch, end-to-end, and they are closing a $100M Series A. 

The bar is higher now: launching strong is a requirement.

Whether you’re coming out of stealth, announcing new capital, or releasing new features, this list is exactly what you need to follow to crack virality. 

Launches are incredibly important to get right, so please reply if you have ANY questions. 

Julia