The first hour sets the loop
The feed decides in the first hour whether a post goes to people outside the following. It reads what happens early, weighs it against the account's size, and either keeps testing the post on strangers or lets it settle.
Everything that raises a launch's multiplier works by changing what the feed sees in that window. The measured version of this argument is on its own page. This one is the order of operations.
The launches at the top of the directory did not get there on the founder's post alone. In the first hour, other accounts posted about them, from their own timelines, in their own words, each with a following of its own.
To the feed, that looks like a cluster forming around a topic, which is exactly what it exists to find. To the reader, it looks like the launch is everywhere.
That group is the most important decision in the plan, and the most common thing to leave to chance. For TypeSafe AI we selected it by hand: 80 to 100 engineers, founders, builders and creators whose audiences were the buyers.
The post went from a 1,500-follower account to 40M views, with 6,818 quote posts and 4,040 replies under it. Creator amplification covers how the group is chosen and briefed.
The part of that group every founder already owns is the network. Set up a calendar invite for the posting minute and send it to every investor, advisor, friend and teammate, 50 to 100 people, with the link added when the post is live.
Enough quality noise early that people start talking about the product on their own is the whole loop in miniature.
Post from the account with the higher multiplier
Every account has a reproduction number and it falls as the account grows. In the directory, launches from accounts under 1,000 followers reached a median of 150 times their following.
Accounts over 100,000 reached 1.4 times theirs. A company account with a large, quiet following is often the worst place to put the post.
The founder's account usually wins on this measure, and it has a second advantage: people reply to a person. TypeSafe posted from Diogo, with the company account following an hour later. The founder went from 1,500 followers to 154,182.
The company account went from 200 to 163,464, on the strength of being the account the founder pointed at. Founder-led marketing has the longer case.
Give the carriers something to carry
A quote post needs something to react to. The accounts posting in the first hour will each pick one thing from the launch, and the post has to hold several: a demo that shows the product doing the thing, a claim specific enough to argue with, a line that reads well on its own.
In our Q3 report, launch videos over two minutes did twice the median views of shorter ones, which runs against the advice to keep it under thirty seconds.
The video is what strangers watch when the feed puts the post in front of them cold, and a longer one gives the reposts more to point at. Whether you need one at all depends on what you are launching, and the guide is honest about when you do not.
Answer in the thread
The second loop runs under the post. A launch thread with the founder in it answering questions keeps the post active for the feed and gives every new viewer a reason to stay, and the replies are where buyers ask the question they would otherwise ask on a sales call.
Under the TypeSafe post there are 4,040 replies, and the founder was in the thread for the first day. Launch conversation design is about planning what those replies will be about before they arrive.
Keep the cycle short
K factor compounds only inside the window the feed is still testing the post, which on X is hours. Everything that goes into the first hour has to be ready before it.
The group is briefed, the founder's own replies are drafted, the company account's follow-up is scheduled, and the post goes up at an hour when the buyers are on the app.
When to launch has the day and the hour from the directory's data. A launch that gathers its carriers over the afternoon has already been graded.
What k factor will not do
A high multiplier puts the product in front of people. It does not sign them up, and a launch measured only in views can be a screenshot. TypeSafe's launch converted about 0.4 percent of its viewers into followers of the founder, which is the part of the reach that can be launched to again.
Set the number you want to move before the launch, and make sure it can be attributed afterwards. Virality without conversion and launch attribution are the two guides to read before the date is set.
Questions we get asked
How many accounts need to post in the first hour?
Fewer, better chosen, is the rule. The feed reads who is engaging and what their audiences do next, so ten accounts whose followers are the buyers do more than a hundred whose followers are not. The group for each launch we run is selected by hand around the product's buyer.
Should the founder or the company post the launch?
The founder, in almost every case. Smaller accounts get far more reach per follower, and readers reply to a person.
The company account posts within the hour and picks up the follows the founder sends its way. TypeSafe's company account went from 200 to 163,464 followers this way.
Does a longer launch video hurt reach?
Our Q3 report found the opposite: launch videos over two minutes did twice the median views of shorter ones. The video is what a stranger watches when the feed shows them the post cold, and it gives the accounts quoting the launch more to point at.
Can we raise the k factor after the post is up?
Only a little. The feed grades the post on its first hour, so the carriers, the founder's replies and the company follow-up all need to be ready before it goes live. Answering in the thread through the first day is the one lever that still works afterwards.