docs: Show HN launch day operations checklist — minute-by-minute runbook for May 12-13
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docs/show-hn-launch-checklist.md
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# Show HN Launch Day Operations Checklist
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**For: Scott Scoble | Launch: May 12 (Monday) or May 13 (Tuesday), 2026**
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**Prepared: May 9, 2026, 2:04 AM PT (Ventures 🚀)**
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---
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## TL;DR: What Scott Actually Does
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1. Pick Monday or Tuesday morning
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2. Run the 5-minute pre-flight check below
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3. Paste the Show HN post
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4. Watch comments for the first hour — use the comment playbook
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5. At +4 hours, cross-post to Reddit + share link on Discord/Slack groups
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6. At +24 hours, check if it hit front page and decide next steps
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---
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## PRE-LAUNCH: Day Before (Sunday or Monday night)
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### 5-Minute Pre-Flight Check
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Run these in a terminal:
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```bash
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# 1. ALL LINKS WORK
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curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me | head -1 # → 200 OK
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curl -sI https://os.scoble.me/forgejo/sscoble/speckl | head -1 # → 200
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curl -sI https://codeberg.org/sscoble/speckl | head -1 # → 200
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# 2. COMPILER IS STABLE
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cd ~/speckl/compiler && npm test # → 41/41 passing
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# 3. DEMO PAGE WORKS
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curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me/demo/index.html | head -1 # → 200 OK
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# 4. WHITEPAPER IS ACCESSIBLE
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wc -l ~/speckl/docs/whitepaper-v2.md # → ~1,300+ lines
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# 5. BLOG POSTS RENDER (optional — pick your 2 best for linking)
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# Blog posts: ~/speckl/docs/blog-*.md
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```
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If Storj is still down: **abort launch**. Without the landing page, the post loses all credibility. Scott must fix `rclone config` or republish the landing page another way first.
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### Choose Your Timing
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| Option | Day | Post Time PT | UTC | Why |
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|--------|-----|-------------|-----|-----|
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| **A (best)** | Tue May 13 | 1:00 AM PT | 8:00 AM UTC | Catches EU morning + US late night |
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| **B** | Tue May 13 | 6:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM UTC | Catches US morning, EU afternoon |
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| **C** | Mon May 12 | 6:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM UTC | Monday is slightly worse than Tuesday |
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**Recommendation:** Option A if Scott can pre-schedule or wake up early. Option B if he wants a normal morning.
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### HN Account Check
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- Log into HN. Verify karma ≥ 2 (minimum to post Show HN).
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- If karma < 2: Reply to 2-3 comments on front page stories to get karma. Takes 10 minutes.
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- Bookmark: https://news.ycombinator.com/submit
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---
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## LAUNCH DAY: T-5 Minutes
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### Open These Tabs
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1. **HN Submit:** https://news.ycombinator.com/submit
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2. **Comment Playbook:** Find it at `~/speckl/docs/show-hn-comment-playbook.md` (open in editor or browser)
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3. **Your HN Threads page:** https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=YOUR_USERNAME (to monitor comments)
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4. **Announcement post source:** `~/speckl/docs/show-hn-announcement.md`
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### Final Sanity Check (30 seconds)
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- Title starts with "Show HN:" ✅
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- Landing page resolves ✅
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- GitHub/code link is a real repo (not just docs) ✅
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- Post body has actual code examples or links to them ✅
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- Whitepaper link works ✅
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---
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## T+0: POST IT
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Go to https://news.ycombinator.com/submit
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**Title:**
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```
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Show HN: Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to runnable TypeScript and WASM
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```
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**URL:**
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```
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https://speckl.scoble.me
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```
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(Link to the landing page — it has links to the repo, whitepaper, demo. HN prefers clean landing pages over direct repo links for Show HN.)
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**Text:** (optional — only if using self-post format)
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Paste the body from `show-hn-announcement.md`. If HN's URL field is used (recommended), add the first paragraph as the first comment instead.
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### Immediately After Posting:
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- Copy the post URL (it'll be `https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=XXXXXXX`)
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- Save it — you'll need it for cross-posting
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---
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## FIRST HOUR: The Golden Window (T+0 to T+60)
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This is when HN's ranking algorithm is most sensitive to engagement. Every upvote and comment thread counts quadruple.
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### What To Do:
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1. **Reply to comments within 5 minutes.** Speed signals "builder is present."
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2. **Use the comment playbook** (`show-hn-comment-playbook.md`) — it has responses to 14 common objections pre-written. Copy-paste-adapt. Do NOT write responses from scratch under time pressure.
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3. **Be human.** If someone says "cool project," say thanks and ask if they have a use case. If someone finds a bug, thank them and log it.
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4. **Don't get defensive.** Someone WILL call Speckl "another TLA+ clone." Use the pre-written response. Don't argue. Move on.
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5. **Upvote helpful comments** from others — it keeps the thread active.
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### Do NOT:
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- Ask friends to upvote (HN detects voting rings)
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- Post multiple top-level comments yourself
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- Link to "buy now" or pricing (there is none — keep it pure Show HN)
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- Engage with obvious trolls. One polite reply, then ignore.
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### Monitor Metrics:
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- Upvote count (refresh every 10 min)
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- Comment count
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- Position on /show or /new vs /news (front page)
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---
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## T+1 TO T+4: Sustain Engagement
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- Check comments every 30 min
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- Reply to new questions using the playbook
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- If post is on /show but not /news: normal. Show HN needs ~10+ upvotes in first 2 hours to graduate to /news.
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### First Cross-Post: Reddit
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**Only if the post has 15+ upvotes and positive comments.** A dead post doesn't need amplification.
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Post to r/programming (2.5M members):
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**Title:** Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to TypeScript and WASM (open source, Show HN'd today)
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**Link:** Your HN post URL (not the landing page — Redditors want to see the HN discussion)
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**Flair:** Use if available.
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---
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## T+4 TO T+24: Extended Monitoring
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- Check comments every 2-3 hours
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- If post hits front page (top 30 on /news): engage actively with ALL comments — this is your moment
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- If post stalls at 5-15 upvotes and sinks: don't despair. Bookmark the HN post URL. You can reuse the announcement for a future Show HN in 3-6 months with "v0.3" or a major milestone.
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### Additional Cross-Posts (Only If Traction Is Good):
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| Platform | When | Post Type |
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|----------|------|-----------|
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| r/Compilers (28K) | T+4h | Link to HN discussion |
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| r/rust (300K) | T+4h | WASM angle — "compiles to WASM from formal specs" |
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| Twitter/Bluesky | T+1h | Link to HN post + screenshot of compiler output |
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| Lobsters | T+2h | Submit as "Speckl: a spec language that compiles to TypeScript + WASM" |
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---
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## T+24: Debrief
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### If It Hit Front Page (top 30 on /news):
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- 🎉 You have developer credibility. Now:
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1. Submit whitepaper to arXiv TODAY (ride the momentum)
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2. Cross-post to all platforms listed above
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3. Email the formal methods communities (tlaplus group, FME, etc.)
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4. Consider a follow-up Show HN in 2-4 weeks with "Speckl v0.3: now compiling real-world state machines"
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### If It Got Moderate Traction (10-30 upvotes, some comments):
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- Valuable signal. Extract every comment as product feedback.
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- Update the FAQ/landing page based on common questions.
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- Re-submit after a major compiler milestone (pre/postcondition support, record types, etc.)
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### If It Got No Traction (< 10 upvotes):
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- Show HN timing is fickle. Does NOT mean the project is bad.
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- Check: was the title good? Was the landing page slow/down? Did you post at a bad time?
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- Try again in 3-6 months with a substantially improved product.
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- Don't delete the post — HN doesn't let you. Just move on.
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---
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## CONTINGENCY: If Something Breaks
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| Problem | Response |
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|---------|----------|
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| **Landing page down** | Post a comment immediately: "Landing page is struggling — here's the direct repo link." Link to Forgejo. |
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| **Compiler tests failing** | Don't mention it unless asked. Fix it after the post dies down. |
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| **Someone finds a real bug** | "Great catch — filed. Here's the issue link." Link to marcus/engineering. Shows you take bugs seriously. |
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| **Troll/spam comments** | Flag. Do not engage beyond one polite reply. HN mods are active. |
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| **Post flagged as spam** | Email hn@ycombinator.com. Explain it's open source, no commercial product. They unflag quickly. |
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| **Storj goes down mid-launch** | You're hosed for landing page links. Post the Forgejo repo link as a comment. Redirect the landing page to a GitHub Pages mirror (if you set one up in advance). |
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---
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## SEEDED QUESTIONS (Optional — Use Sparingly)
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If you have 1-2 trusted friends who can post natural-sounding questions, pick from these:
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1. "How does provenance tracking work in the compiler? Do you embed hashes in the artifacts?"
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→ Use Response 4 from the playbook.
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2. "What made you choose to generate both TypeScript AND WASM instead of picking one?"
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→ Use Response 10 from the playbook.
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Do NOT fabricate fake accounts. HN detects this and it's worse than no engagement.
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---
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## Post-Launch: What Ships Next
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Regardless of Show HN outcome, the compiler needs these fixes before it's "real":
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1. **engineering#9:** Parser must capture `precondition:` / `postcondition:` blocks in action bodies
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2. **engineering#11:** TypeScript generator must emit type aliases for record declarations (`Transfer`, `LogEntry`)
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3. **engineering#10 (if exists):** Host-side record boxing + `in` operator for WASM
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These are the blockers between "cool demo" and "usable tool." Show HN traction helps motivate these fixes; no traction just means they take longer.
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---
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## Quick Reference Card
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```
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ SHOW HN LAUNCH — SPEEDRUN │
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│ │
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│ Day Before: │
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│ ☐ 5-min pre-flight (curl landing, test compiler) │
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│ ☐ Storj is up? (if not, ABORT) │
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│ ☐ HN karma ≥ 2? │
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│ │
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│ T-5 min: │
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│ ☐ Open HN submit + comment playbook + threads page │
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│ │
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│ T+0: │
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│ ☐ Paste title + URL + body │
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│ ☐ Save post URL │
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│ │
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│ T+0 to T+60 (GOLDEN HOUR): │
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│ ☐ Reply within 5 min using playbook │
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│ ☐ Monitor upvote count every 10 min │
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│ ☐ Be human, don't argue, don't astroturf │
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│ │
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│ T+4h: │
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│ ☐ Cross-post to Reddit (if 15+ upvotes) │
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│ ☐ Share on Discord/Slack/Twitter │
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│ │
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│ T+24h: │
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│ ☐ Debrief: front page / moderate / dead │
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│ ☐ Act based on outcome │
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│ │
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│ CONTINGENCY: If landing page dies → link to repo │
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│ If flagged → email hn@ycombinator │
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└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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```
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