Ship Plainly: Offer, Policies, and Rules
The tiers at a glance
| Tier | Price | Who it's for | Turnaround | Revisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founding Kit | $79 one-time, 10 slots only | First buyers willing to give honest feedback | 4 business days | 1 round |
| Launch Kit | $149 one-time | One product, one launch | 3 business days (72 h) | 1 round |
| Launch Kit Pro | $349 one-time | Builders who also want their landing page rewritten | 5 business days | 2 rounds |
| Ship Log | $99 / month | Builders who ship updates often and want to keep posting | Monthly batch delivered within 3 business days of each month's intake | 1 round per batch |
"Business days" means Mon–Fri, US Central. The clock starts when both payment and a complete intake form have been received.
What's delivered
All deliverables arrive as one Markdown/Google Doc file with each asset in its own section, character counts where a platform has limits, and a short "why this angle" note above each asset.
Launch Kit ($149)
- Positioning brief (1 page): who it's for, the problem in their words, what it replaces, the one-line promise, 3 proof points taken from your intake/public page, and the objections to pre-empt.
- Product Hunt set: - Name check, plus 3 tagline options (≤60 chars) - Description (≤500 chars) - Maker first-comment outline + draft (for you to rewrite in your own words; see rule R5) - 5 likely questions with suggested answer points - Gallery caption ideas
- X launch thread: 6–9 posts (each ≤280 chars), with a hook post, media suggestions per post, and 1 standalone short version.
- Reddit: 2 posts, each for a specific subreddit you choose or we suggest. Each comes with that subreddit's self-promotion rules summarized, the right flair/thread (e.g., a weekly showcase thread), and a title + body written for that community.
- Hacker News "Show HN" title + first comment, only if your product qualifies under the Show HN guidelines (something people can try, not a landing page or signup wall; https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html). If it doesn't qualify, we tell you why and give you an Indie Hackers post instead.
- Hero rewrite: headline, subhead, primary CTA, and 3 benefit bullets for the top of your landing page.
- Launch-day checklist: a time-blocked, US Central timeline for the day you pick.
Launch Kit Pro ($349)
Everything in the Launch Kit, plus:
- Full landing-page copy rewrite: every section top to bottom (hero, problem, how it works, features → benefits, social proof slots (we never invent proof), pricing copy, FAQ, final CTA), with a before/after table for your current page.
- 3rd Reddit post and an Indie Hackers post (in addition to Show HN, if eligible).
- Launch-week calendar: 7 days of posts across X / Reddit / IH / newsletter, with drafts.
- Directory blurbs: 50 / 150 / 300-word descriptions for listing sites.
- 2 revision rounds.
Founding Kit ($79, 10 slots)
- The full Launch Kit deliverables at $79.
- In exchange: a short feedback form after delivery, plus optional permission to quote your feedback and show the kit as a public case study. You're never required to give a positive review, and we only publish what you explicitly approve, in your own words.
- Turnaround is 4 business days (founders get an extra day so Mark can review closely).
- When 10 slots are sold, the Founding button comes off the site.
Ship Log ($99/month)
For builders who ship weekly-ish. Each month, after a short "what shipped" form:
- 4 X posts or 1 thread + 2 posts, built from your changelog/commits/screenshots
- 1 changelog or "what's new" post for your site/blog/newsletter
- 1 community post for a subreddit or IH where it fits the rules (or a suggestion to skip it if nothing fits)
- 1 short "positioning check": whether your page still says the right thing after this month's changes
- Cancel anytime from the Stripe customer portal. Cancelling stops future charges, and the current month is still delivered.
Revision policy
- A revision round = one consolidated list of changes sent back within 14 days of delivery. We return the revised version within 2 business days.
- Revisions cover tone, angle, length, accuracy fixes, and swapping a subreddit. New scope (a different product, a new launch, extra assets) is a new order.
- Errors on our side (wrong facts, broken character limits, rule mismatches) are fixed free and don't count as a round.
Refund policy (draft)
- Before work starts (we haven't begun drafting): full refund, no questions.
- After delivery: if the kit misses what this page promises (a missing asset, ignored intake details, or rule violations we should have caught) and a revision doesn't fix it, ask within 14 days of delivery for a full refund.
- Late delivery: if we miss the stated turnaround by more than 2 business days without telling you first, you can request a full refund and keep the kit.
- Ship Log: refunds apply to the current month only if that month's batch hasn't been delivered. Cancelling stops renewal.
- Not grounds for a refund: launch outcomes (rank, upvotes, signups, revenue). We sell deliverables, not results.
- Refunds go back to the original payment method via Stripe. Stripe doesn't return its processing fee on refunds (https://stripe.com/pricing), and we absorb that cost.
Rules we work by (non-negotiable)
- R1. No upvote selling, no vote rings, ever. We don't buy, sell, trade, or coordinate upvotes, comments, or reviews on Product Hunt, Hacker News, Reddit, or anywhere else. We won't write "please upvote" asks. HN explicitly says "Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment" (https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html).
- R2. No vote manipulation by other means: no fake accounts, alt accounts, paid "launch squads", engagement pods, or comment-for-comment groups.
- R3. Respect each subreddit's self-promotion rules. Every Reddit draft names the target subreddit, summarizes its current self-promo rule (example: r/SaaS limits self-promotion to once every 60 days per a mod post, https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/comments/1slno92/new_rule_against_selfpromo/), and uses the right flair or megathread. If a sub doesn't allow it, we say so and don't write a sneaky workaround post. The client posts from their own account and checks the sidebar on the day.
- R4. No invented facts. No made-up stats, users, testimonials, logos, press, or awards. Proof slots stay empty until the client fills them with real proof.
- R5. Personal comments stay personal. Product Hunt's commenting guidelines ask for no LLM-written comments, and PH now labels "Likely AI" comments (https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/10030102-commenting-guidelines; https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/16631218-what-is-a-likely-ai-comment). Maker comments and reply suggestions are delivered as outlines and drafts you must rewrite in your own voice before posting. We don't post anything on a client's behalf.
- R6. No outcome guarantees. We never promise a rank, "Product of the Day", or traffic numbers.
- R7. Honest disclosure. Drafts that mention the maker's own product say so plainly ("I built this").
- R8. We may decline products that are scams, adult, gambling, or that we can't describe honestly. We'll issue a full refund if we decline.
What we need from you (intake)
Product URL (or demo/repo), who it's for, what it replaces, pricing, launch date, platforms, 3 real proof points (if any), what's still rough, and your voice samples (a few posts you've written).
Payment
For now, reserve by emailing [email protected]. Stripe Payment Links (one per tier; Ship Log recurring) are next. Stripe's standard fee is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card charge (https://stripe.com/pricing). On a $149 kit that's about $4.62. Net figures are arithmetic, not a forecast.