# Launch checklist — B2B SaaS

The launch checklist with the rows a subscription business needs before demand generation starts: the lead route tested end to end, the account list loaded and versioned, sales told what to expect, and the gated asset actually delivering.

Everything else is the general checklist, unchanged. One row per check, with an owner by name, a due date relative to the start, an honest blocking flag, a verification method and evidence kept.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Delete the rows that do not apply to this launch rather than marking them as not applicable.
3. Give every row an owner by name, and a due date relative to the start.
4. Be honest about which rows block, and keep that list short enough to mean something.
5. Write how to verify before the week of the launch, while there is time to think.
6. Keep the evidence, not just the tick.
7. After the launch, add the rows you wished you had had.

## The columns

**Area** (Text). Which part of the launch this belongs to: lead route, lists, sales readiness, assets, tracking, reporting, access. Most of these sit outside the ad account, which is where this category's launches actually fail.

**Check** (Text). The thing to confirm, written as something a person can do and answer: submit the form as a stranger and find the record with its owner and source intact. Not routing is configured.

**Why it matters** (Text). What goes wrong if it is missed: leads created without owners, called late by whoever is free, and a campaign judged on a conversion rate caused by the handling rather than the advertising.

**Applies to** (Text). Which campaigns this covers: every lead campaign, the account-based ones only, the awareness phase where no leads are expected at all. Naming it stops a check being skipped as irrelevant.

**Owner** (Text). The person who does this check, by name, and several of these belong to marketing operations or to the sales team rather than to whoever built the campaign.

**Due** (Text). When this falls due, counted from the start date. Access and integration checks belong a week out because they queue behind other teams; the sales readiness message belongs two days before.

**Blocking** (Text). Whether the launch may proceed without it. A broken lead route blocks; a gated asset that has not been proofread does not. Keep the blocking list short enough that overriding it is unthinkable.

**How to verify** (Text). The specific action: submit the form, follow the record, confirm the owner and the source fields, then check the notification arrived where somebody watches. Each step has failed somewhere.

**Evidence** (Text). What is kept: the screenshot of the test lead record showing owner and source, the list version loaded, the message sent to sales, the confirmation that the asset was delivered.

**Status** (Text). Not started, done, or blocked. Blocked is frequent here because the route crosses systems other teams own, and it is the status that makes a dependency visible before the start date.

**Verified by** (Text). The second pair of eyes, where the row deserves one. The lead route is worth confirming from the sales side, because they are the ones who will find out if it is wrong.

**Verified on** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day it was confirmed. Forms and routing are edited by people who are not thinking about this campaign, so a check from three weeks ago describes a configuration that may have changed.

**Notes** (Text). What the next person needs: the integration that drops a field, the queue nobody watches, the list that needed a refresh, the sales lead who wants a different warning next time.

## The launch checklist

| Area | Check | Why it matters | Applies to | Owner | Due | Blocking | How to verify | Evidence | Status | Verified by | Verified on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- Every row has an owner by name and a due date relative to the start.
- A test lead has travelled the whole route and arrived with its source intact.
- The account list is loaded, versioned and recorded in the plan.
- Sales has been told what to expect and when.
- The gated asset delivers, and the ungated summary is genuinely ungated.
- The blocking rows are few enough that blocking still means something.
- Every completed row has evidence attached, not only a status.