Why Great Companies Launch Again and Again

Recurring product launches drive urgency, strengthen culture, and build unstoppable momentum. Here’s how to scale faster and create loyalty.

Key Takeaways:

• Launches aren’t just marketing moments — they’re a proven system for building internal urgency, focus, and accountability.
• Recurring product launches help startups align teams, speed up decision-making, and energise customers consistently.
• Each launch cycle drives both internal improvements (execution, alignment) and external growth (customer loyalty, community).
• Successful launches require clear planning, strong project ownership, creative team alignment, customer engagement, and thoughtful event design.
• Building a culture of recurring launches leads to compounding momentum, making it easier to scale without losing focus or energy.
  

When founders think about launches and customer-facing events, they often think about marketing.

Events seem separate from the "real" work of building and scaling a company. 

And yet, all of the most iconic B2C companies build their calendars around launches:

• Apple — WWDC, iPhone Event
• Google — Google I/O, Made by Google
• Amazon — Devices & Services Event
• Meta — Meta Connect
• Airbnb — Summer/Fall Release

As do successful B2B companies across every major sector:

• Salesforce — Dreamforce (CRM, SaaS)
• Snowflake — Snowflake Summit (Cloud Data Platform)
• Workday — Workday Rising (HCM, ERP)
• HubSpot — INBOUND (CRM, Marketing)
• Stripe — Stripe Sessions (Payments, Fintech)

Customer-facing events are a big scaling secret hiding in plain sight. No, they aren't just about marketing.

Customer-facing events are a fundamental part of how tech companies operate.

They create urgency, align teams, and give meaning to the work. They create a focal point — a moment when everyone must pull together and deliver something real.

Without them, companies drift along and deadlines are missed. But with them, they move with intention.

That’s what I want to show you today: how to make launches part of your system — not just a marketing gimmick, but the heartbeat of your company's growth.

Events Create a Focal Point

Without a public event on the horizon, it's easy to get lost in details. Each department focuses on its own priorities, disconnected from each other’s work.

A deadline gets missed because it wasn't a real deadline. And all of a sudden, you see people rowing hard, but not in the same direction.

A public event changes that. It creates a non-negotiable deadline. It clarifies what matters and forces decisions. Teams collaborate more closely because the goal is shared and visible.

Of course, not every customer-facing event has to be the size of Dreamforce. Even a modest one can rally a team — if it feels real.

The point is having a tangible moment when the company must show the world what it has built.

With a focal point, companies ship better work and build stronger cultures. The team feels part of a bigger story — not because someone told them to care, but because the moment demands it.

The Recurring Product Launch™

Remember your first product launch? All the excitement, the urgency to ship, and the clarity that came when you knew you had to launch something?

Now ask yourself: does the market remember? Of course not. When you launched, no one knew about you. It was a silent launch.

If launches create focus, the next question is simple: why only have one?

The ability to launch something every year is one of a startup's biggest advantages.

That’s why companies do them every year — if not multiple times per year.

You can think of it as a simple internal cycle:

Part 1: Planning

Every event needs a plan — but not just any plan. It starts with the most strategic question you can ask as a founder:

If I had one hour with all my best customers, what would I want them to know?

The launch plan becomes your de facto strategy. If you're working on something you wouldn’t present to customers at an event, is it even worth doing?

Once the strategy is clear, every team asks a tactical question:

How will I leverage this event in my function?

Sales may invite key accounts. Marketing might invite influencers. Product could run customer circles with their development team.

The customer event is one of the few things in everyone’s calendar — and it has applications across the company.

Part 2: Execution

With every team working toward the same big day, things will already feel more collaborative.

Reviewing work takes on new meaning. With a real date on the calendar, the review feels more like service than impatience.

Work speeds up naturally and decisions get sharper, because the cost of delay becomes visible.

Part 3: Launch

Then comes the launch itself. You and your leaders present your progress directly to customers — and you get to see first-hand whether you've built the right things.

This is pure accountability: standing behind your work, making a public commitment, and delivering on it.

It’s also a rare chance for your entire team — from Customer Success to HR to IT — to meet the people they ultimately serve. And if you capture it on film, you gain valuable footage of real customer interactions that can be used across marketing, recruitment, and internal storytelling.

Part 4: Energise

Imagine the sprint finish at the end of a marathon. It's painful, but exhilarating. It’s a collective peak experience that bonds people together. Just as energising leaves you with more energy, so can launches.

You celebrate together — and in that moment, ambition builds. People look at each other and say, “The next one will be even bigger!”

And then the cycle begins again. New plan. New execution. New launch. New energy. Over time, the company builds momentum that compounds every year.

The External Rhythm

There are powerful external benefits to hosting customer-facing events too.

During planning, you can begin inviting customers and partners selectively, creating a sense of exclusivity and anticipation. Not everyone is invited — and that’s the point.

During execution, you offer sneak peeks of what you’ll launch to your best customers (maybe even all customers, wink wink). This makes customers feel included and brings them closer into your development process.

At launch, customers aren’t just watching a product release; they’re meeting others like them, forming relationships that strengthen their commitment to your company. It’s more than just networking — it’s the start of a community.

After the launch, customers are more excited than ever to use your product or service and put your latest features to good use. Not only does this unlock value for them — it can increase retention for you.

When you build for both the team and the market at every step, launches stop being one-time events and become engines of momentum inside the company — and loyalty outside it.

The Demo Trap

One of the most attractive aspects of running events is the sense of urgency and ambition they create. However, that can come with a cost.

A common pattern is that teams overcommit during the planning phase, which leads to crunches in the final weeks. The goal quietly shifts from launching to demoing — showcasing features you intended to build but didn’t have time to finish.

When that happens, the crunch continues after the event as the team works to deliver what was demoed. The cycle can be productive — but it’s also exhausting. And over time, it leads to burnout.

This is where the role of CEO matters most. I walk into planning meetings assuming my team will overdeliver.

You should see it as your job to simplify, clarify, and define the minimum viable launch.

After every launch, run a proper retrospective. Look at what worked, what didn’t, and adjust your process before the next cycle begins.

Building Momentum, One Launch at a Time

The first event cycle always feels heavier than you expect. Yet every founder I’ve seen commit to this rhythm builds something more than a product.

They build a culture of urgency, accountability, and pride — and they pull customers closer in the process.

You don’t need to get it perfect. You just need to set the date, rally the team, and launch.

And then do it again.

Related readings

• How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Your Product Team
• The Secret Formula for Go-to-Market
• 10 Communication Patterns Used by Great Leaders

Originally published May 21, 2025