Writing your founder story, product by product

Founder stories

Think of it as the story of one product, told by someone who built it. If you founded several products, you write one story for each. Co-founders each write their own story of the same product.

Start writing

Start at /account/founder/story after signing in. Next to each product: its state (Not started, Draft, or Published on a number of sites) and a button to carry on. From any listing's profile screen in your account, the 'Founder story for <product>' card opens that product's story.

Guided sections

Six guided sections (How it started, The problem, What we built, The hard parts, Milestones, What's next) make up the story, each with a question to answer, in an editor headed 'Founder story: <product>'. Your work is saved automatically as a draft. Include up to 4 photos alongside the text. 'Help me word this' suggests clearer wording for what you wrote, with no new facts.

Ready to publish?

First make sure your founder profile at /account/founder is complete; the story displays your name and photo. You need 3 or more sections and at least 200 words; at most 2 links; no prices or promotions. Revenue and funding milestones are fine.

Your story on Launch It Online

Once published, the story lives at /launch/<listing>/story/<founder>. Free listings show the story card locked; it opens when the listing becomes a paid launch. The product's listing carries a card for the story. The founder profile shows a list of your product stories, and /stories gathers all published ones.

Updating

If you wrote a story before that covered several products, it stays as your general text on your founder profile, and each new product story starts from it. The old /founder/<name>/story address still works, pointing to your product story or, for several products, your founder profile. Come back whenever you like, edit, and publish again.