# Show HN Launch Day Operations Checklist **For: Scott Scoble | Launch: May 12 (Monday) or May 13 (Tuesday), 2026** **Prepared: May 9, 2026, 2:04 AM PT (Ventures 🚀)** --- ## TL;DR: What Scott Actually Does 1. Pick Monday or Tuesday morning 2. Run the 5-minute pre-flight check below 3. Paste the Show HN post 4. Watch comments for the first hour — use the comment playbook 5. At +4 hours, cross-post to Reddit + share link on Discord/Slack groups 6. At +24 hours, check if it hit front page and decide next steps --- ## PRE-LAUNCH: Day Before (Sunday or Monday night) ### 5-Minute Pre-Flight Check Run these in a terminal: ```bash # 1. ALL LINKS WORK curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me | head -1 # → 200 OK curl -sI https://os.scoble.me/forgejo/sscoble/speckl | head -1 # → 200 curl -sI https://codeberg.org/sscoble/speckl | head -1 # → 200 # 2. COMPILER IS STABLE cd ~/speckl/compiler && npm test # → 41/41 passing # 3. DEMO PAGE WORKS curl -sI https://speckl.scoble.me/demo/index.html | head -1 # → 200 OK # 4. WHITEPAPER IS ACCESSIBLE wc -l ~/speckl/docs/whitepaper-v2.md # → ~1,300+ lines # 5. BLOG POSTS RENDER (optional — pick your 2 best for linking) # Blog posts: ~/speckl/docs/blog-*.md ``` 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. ### Choose Your Timing | Option | Day | Post Time PT | UTC | Why | |--------|-----|-------------|-----|-----| | **A (best)** | Tue May 13 | 1:00 AM PT | 8:00 AM UTC | Catches EU morning + US late night | | **B** | Tue May 13 | 6:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM UTC | Catches US morning, EU afternoon | | **C** | Mon May 12 | 6:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM UTC | Monday is slightly worse than Tuesday | **Recommendation:** Option A if Scott can pre-schedule or wake up early. Option B if he wants a normal morning. ### HN Account Check - Log into HN. Verify karma ≥ 2 (minimum to post Show HN). - If karma < 2: Reply to 2-3 comments on front page stories to get karma. Takes 10 minutes. - Bookmark: https://news.ycombinator.com/submit --- ## LAUNCH DAY: T-5 Minutes ### Open These Tabs 1. **HN Submit:** https://news.ycombinator.com/submit 2. **Comment Playbook:** Find it at `~/speckl/docs/show-hn-comment-playbook.md` (open in editor or browser) 3. **Your HN Threads page:** https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=YOUR_USERNAME (to monitor comments) 4. **Announcement post source:** `~/speckl/docs/show-hn-announcement.md` ### Final Sanity Check (30 seconds) - Title starts with "Show HN:" ✅ - Landing page resolves ✅ - GitHub/code link is a real repo (not just docs) ✅ - Post body has actual code examples or links to them ✅ - Whitepaper link works ✅ --- ## T+0: POST IT Go to https://news.ycombinator.com/submit **Title:** ``` Show HN: Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to runnable TypeScript and WASM ``` **URL:** ``` https://speckl.scoble.me ``` (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.) **Text:** (optional — only if using self-post format) 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. ### Immediately After Posting: - Copy the post URL (it'll be `https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=XXXXXXX`) - Save it — you'll need it for cross-posting --- ## FIRST HOUR: The Golden Window (T+0 to T+60) This is when HN's ranking algorithm is most sensitive to engagement. Every upvote and comment thread counts quadruple. ### What To Do: 1. **Reply to comments within 5 minutes.** Speed signals "builder is present." 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. 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. 4. **Don't get defensive.** Someone WILL call Speckl "another TLA+ clone." Use the pre-written response. Don't argue. Move on. 5. **Upvote helpful comments** from others — it keeps the thread active. ### Do NOT: - Ask friends to upvote (HN detects voting rings) - Post multiple top-level comments yourself - Link to "buy now" or pricing (there is none — keep it pure Show HN) - Engage with obvious trolls. One polite reply, then ignore. ### Monitor Metrics: - Upvote count (refresh every 10 min) - Comment count - Position on /show or /new vs /news (front page) --- ## T+1 TO T+4: Sustain Engagement - Check comments every 30 min - Reply to new questions using the playbook - If post is on /show but not /news: normal. Show HN needs ~10+ upvotes in first 2 hours to graduate to /news. ### First Cross-Post: Reddit **Only if the post has 15+ upvotes and positive comments.** A dead post doesn't need amplification. Post to r/programming (2.5M members): **Title:** Speckl — Write specs like TLA+, compile to TypeScript and WASM (open source, Show HN'd today) **Link:** Your HN post URL (not the landing page — Redditors want to see the HN discussion) **Flair:** Use if available. --- ## T+4 TO T+24: Extended Monitoring - Check comments every 2-3 hours - If post hits front page (top 30 on /news): engage actively with ALL comments — this is your moment - 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. ### Additional Cross-Posts (Only If Traction Is Good): | Platform | When | Post Type | |----------|------|-----------| | r/Compilers (28K) | T+4h | Link to HN discussion | | r/rust (300K) | T+4h | WASM angle — "compiles to WASM from formal specs" | | Twitter/Bluesky | T+1h | Link to HN post + screenshot of compiler output | | Lobsters | T+2h | Submit as "Speckl: a spec language that compiles to TypeScript + WASM" | --- ## T+24: Debrief ### If It Hit Front Page (top 30 on /news): - 🎉 You have developer credibility. Now: 1. Submit whitepaper to arXiv TODAY (ride the momentum) 2. Cross-post to all platforms listed above 3. Email the formal methods communities (tlaplus group, FME, etc.) 4. Consider a follow-up Show HN in 2-4 weeks with "Speckl v0.3: now compiling real-world state machines" ### If It Got Moderate Traction (10-30 upvotes, some comments): - Valuable signal. Extract every comment as product feedback. - Update the FAQ/landing page based on common questions. - Re-submit after a major compiler milestone (pre/postcondition support, record types, etc.) ### If It Got No Traction (< 10 upvotes): - Show HN timing is fickle. Does NOT mean the project is bad. - Check: was the title good? Was the landing page slow/down? Did you post at a bad time? - Try again in 3-6 months with a substantially improved product. - Don't delete the post — HN doesn't let you. Just move on. --- ## CONTINGENCY: If Something Breaks | Problem | Response | |---------|----------| | **Landing page down** | Post a comment immediately: "Landing page is struggling — here's the direct repo link." Link to Forgejo. | | **Compiler tests failing** | Don't mention it unless asked. Fix it after the post dies down. | | **Someone finds a real bug** | "Great catch — filed. Here's the issue link." Link to marcus/engineering. Shows you take bugs seriously. | | **Troll/spam comments** | Flag. Do not engage beyond one polite reply. HN mods are active. | | **Post flagged as spam** | Email hn@ycombinator.com. Explain it's open source, no commercial product. They unflag quickly. | | **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). | --- ## SEEDED QUESTIONS (Optional — Use Sparingly) If you have 1-2 trusted friends who can post natural-sounding questions, pick from these: 1. "How does provenance tracking work in the compiler? Do you embed hashes in the artifacts?" → Use Response 4 from the playbook. 2. "What made you choose to generate both TypeScript AND WASM instead of picking one?" → Use Response 10 from the playbook. Do NOT fabricate fake accounts. HN detects this and it's worse than no engagement. --- ## Post-Launch: What Ships Next Regardless of Show HN outcome, the compiler needs these fixes before it's "real": 1. **engineering#9:** Parser must capture `precondition:` / `postcondition:` blocks in action bodies 2. **engineering#11:** TypeScript generator must emit type aliases for record declarations (`Transfer`, `LogEntry`) 3. **engineering#10 (if exists):** Host-side record boxing + `in` operator for WASM These are the blockers between "cool demo" and "usable tool." Show HN traction helps motivate these fixes; no traction just means they take longer. --- ## Quick Reference Card ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SHOW HN LAUNCH — SPEEDRUN │ │ │ │ Day Before: │ │ ☐ 5-min pre-flight (curl landing, test compiler) │ │ ☐ Storj is up? (if not, ABORT) │ │ ☐ HN karma ≥ 2? │ │ │ │ T-5 min: │ │ ☐ Open HN submit + comment playbook + threads page │ │ │ │ T+0: │ │ ☐ Paste title + URL + body │ │ ☐ Save post URL │ │ │ │ T+0 to T+60 (GOLDEN HOUR): │ │ ☐ Reply within 5 min using playbook │ │ ☐ Monitor upvote count every 10 min │ │ ☐ Be human, don't argue, don't astroturf │ │ │ │ T+4h: │ │ ☐ Cross-post to Reddit (if 15+ upvotes) │ │ ☐ Share on Discord/Slack/Twitter │ │ │ │ T+24h: │ │ ☐ Debrief: front page / moderate / dead │ │ ☐ Act based on outcome │ │ │ │ CONTINGENCY: If landing page dies → link to repo │ │ If flagged → email hn@ycombinator │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ```