Launch Checklist
🏠 Community Setup
📚 Content Ready
👋 Onboarding
🏆 Gamification
🚀 Growth & Launch Plan
⚙️ Operations
Readiness Score
Check off each item you've completed. Your readiness score updates in real time.
When Is Your Skool Community Ready to Launch?
The biggest mistake new community builders make is waiting until everything is "perfect." The second biggest mistake is launching with nothing prepared. This checker helps you find the middle ground — enough preparation to succeed, not so much that you never launch.
The Minimum Viable Launch
You need at minimum:
- Clear positioning: Name, description, and who it's for — decided and published
- Seed content: At least 5 posts so new members don't walk into an empty room
- Onboarding flow: A welcome message and clear first action so members aren't confused
- First members: 10-20 founding members ready to join day one (friends, email list, social followers)
- Commitment: Realistic time blocked for the first 30 days of community management
Launch Timeline
- Week 1-2: Setup (name, branding, description, rules, pricing)
- Week 2-3: Content creation (seed posts, course modules, templates)
- Week 3-4: Onboarding design (welcome DM, orientation, gamification)
- Week 4: Soft launch to founding members, gather feedback, iterate
- Week 5+: Public launch with audience, begin growth engine
Don't Wait for Perfect
A 70% ready community that launches beats a 95% ready community that's still "almost done" in 3 months. Launch, get feedback from real members, and iterate. The first 20 members will tell you more about what's needed than any amount of planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What score should I aim for before launching?
70%+ means you're ready for a soft launch with founding members. 85%+ means you're ready for a full public launch. Below 60% means you have critical gaps that will hurt first impressions.
What's the most important thing to have ready?
Seed content and onboarding. New members should never join an empty community, and they should immediately know what to do. Everything else can be refined after launch.
Should I launch free or paid?
If your audience already trusts you, launch paid. If you're building from scratch, consider a free community first to build social proof, then create a paid tier once you have 50+ active members.
How many founding members do I need?
10-20 for a soft launch. These should be people who will actively participate, not lurk. Quality over quantity — 15 active members creates more energy than 100 silent ones.
Want to Automate Your Entire Skool Community?
Free tools are a great start. StickyHive automates the rest — scheduling, DMs, workflows, and AI-powered management.
- Post scheduling with AI calendar intelligence
- Automated DM sequences for onboarding
- Workflow automations (triggers → actions)
- MCP server for Claude, Cursor & any AI tool