The customers I'm most nervous to see our launch
· Avery NXR
3 days from launching Avery NXR on Product Hunt.
I've thought a lot about who our best-case launch day audience is — the customers we hope show up, the press we hope covers us, the peers we hope endorse us.
I've thought less about the OTHER audience. The one that's specifically making me nervous.
Being honest about it here.
The competitor who might tear us apart
There's a specific competitor CEO I keep thinking about.
His company is well-funded, publicly launched, and doing $10M+ ARR. They compete with us obliquely — different positioning but overlapping buyers.
He's active on Twitter/X. Sharp critic. Known for publicly picking apart new launches with technical arguments.
When we launch Thursday, he might do a thread deconstructing Avery. Maybe fairly. Maybe not.
The nervous part isn't his critique. It's whether we'll respond well when it lands.
Preparation: we've drafted responses to the most likely critiques ahead of time. Not to be defensive. To be prepared enough that we can be substantive under pressure.
The customer who put us through hell in beta
There's a specific beta customer who was harder on us than any other.
She's a compliance officer at a fintech. Every week for 3 months, she filed detailed bug reports, edge case questions, and skeptical challenges to our architectural claims.
She made the product better. She might also, on launch day, tell the world publicly whether she thinks we've earned her trust.
If she posts a supportive PH comment, it's the most credible endorsement we could get. Compliance officers don't endorse products lightly.
If she stays silent, it's a signal I'll notice.
If she posts something critical, it'll hurt more than any competitor's take.
Preparation: I've been in touch with her weekly. I don't know what she'll do Thursday. I'm not going to ask. Whatever she says or doesn't say, it'll be authentic.
The investor who passed
One VC we pitched 8 months ago passed on us. Politely but clearly. Their thesis at the time: "We think cloud-first agent platforms will win. Local-first is a niche play."
That VC has since backed two other agent platforms. Both cloud-first.
Thursday, when we launch, that VC will see our launch. So will their portfolio companies.
If we launch strong, it becomes a data point that maybe they were wrong.
If we launch weak, it becomes validation of their pass.
I'm not writing to prove them wrong. But I'm aware they'll be watching.
Preparation: I'm not preparing anything specifically for this. The launch has to speak for itself.
The engineer who left another agent platform
There's a specific engineer who used to work at a well-known agent platform. He publicly left in 2025 with a critical Twitter thread about that platform's cloud-first architecture.
He's been quietly encouraging us for months. DM'd me twice with technical suggestions we implemented.
Thursday, if he tweets about us, it lends architectural credibility to what we're building.
But he might not tweet. He's cautious about his public endorsements.
The nervousness: what if the thing we built doesn't meet his bar, and he stays publicly silent?
Preparation: I'll send him early access to the final product Tuesday. Not asking for a tweet. Just want him to have the chance to see it before the world does.
The customer who almost churned
There's a customer we almost lost 6 weeks ago.
They'd been using early Avery. Hit a bug that cost them a client email drafted incorrectly. Threatened to cancel.
We spent 4 days rebuilding trust. Fixed the bug. Added a safeguard. Personally called them.
They stayed. Are they still with us for launch? Yes. Do they trust us fully? I don't know.
If they tweet supportively Thursday, it's a story of resilience. If they stay silent, it's a story of tolerated tension.
Preparation: I've been extra attentive to their account since. Nothing more I can do. Trust is either there or it isn't.
My parents
My parents follow what I do with equal parts pride and confusion.
They don't fully understand the product. They don't know what Product Hunt is. They don't know why launch day matters more than any other day.
But they'll see something happening Thursday. My mother will forward my LinkedIn post to relatives. She'll call to ask if I've eaten.
The nervousness isn't about their approval. It's about me handling their attention well on a day when I have very little emotional bandwidth.
Preparation: I've asked my sister to be the point of contact for family updates Thursday. She'll answer their questions. I'll respond by evening my time.
The people I don't know are watching
The deepest source of nervousness isn't the people I've named.
It's the people I haven't named. The lurkers who've been reading our blog for months without ever engaging. The competitors I haven't identified yet. The prospects who joined our waitlist without leaving a company name. The engineers at other agent platforms who might quietly evaluate us for their teams.
I don't know who they are. I don't know what they'll do Thursday.
Preparation: none. This is the risk of being visible.
Why I'm writing this publicly
Two reasons.
One: naming your fears reduces their power. If I'm going to be watched Thursday by people who might tear me apart, I'd rather have said so publicly than pretend I wasn't afraid.
Two: founders reading this — you have your own list. Your own competitors, difficult customers, quiet skeptics who might speak up on launch day.
Naming them doesn't make them stop watching. It makes you clearer about who you're preparing for.
For Thursday
I don't know how the specific people I named will react.
I know we've built something worth watching. I know we've been honest along the way. I know the team is ready.
If someone tears us apart, we'll respond substantively. If someone endorses us unexpectedly, we'll be grateful. If someone stays silent, we'll respect it.
Launch day is public. Public is uncomfortable. The nervousness is normal.
3 days out. Back to work.
→ avery.software — Product Hunt launch Thursday: producthunt.com/products/avery-nxr?launch=avery-3