# ShipNLaunch — Comprehensive Overview

Canonical Origin: https://www.shipnlaunch.com

## 1. What is ShipNLaunch?
ShipNLaunch is an independent product discovery platform, weekly launchpad, and permanent software directory. It is built to solve the ephemeral "24-hour launch spike" problem common to traditional launch sites, providing makers with an enduring discovery layer where launched products remain permanently indexed, discoverable, and searchable.

## 2. Who is ShipNLaunch for?
- **Makers & Founders**: Solo developers, indie hackers, and product teams launching new software, developer tools, AI applications, or SaaS solutions.
- **Product Explorers**: Developers, designers, tech enthusiasts, and early adopters looking for useful new software and modern tools for their workflows.

## 3. Supported Product Types & Categories
ShipNLaunch supports software across diverse digital categories:
- **AI**: Artificial intelligence tools, LLM applications, autonomous agents, and model utilities.
- **SaaS**: Software-as-a-service platforms, B2B workflows, and web services.
- **Developer Tools**: Code libraries, SDKs, command-line utilities, APIs, and infrastructure tools.
- **Productivity**: Task management, note-taking, calendars, and personal organization apps.
- **Marketing**: SEO tools, growth engines, audience analytics, and social scheduling software.
- Additional software products including browser extensions, mobile applications, and open-source projects.

## 4. Product Submission & Moderation Lifecycle
1. **Authenticated Submission**: A registered user submits product details through `/submit`, including product name, tagline, description, canonical website URL, category selections, pricing model (free, freemium, paid, subscription), product logo, and optional screenshot previews (up to 5 images). Product submission is 100% free.
2. **Moderation Review**: Submissions enter an internal moderation queue to ensure URLs are authentic and operational, descriptions are accurate, and submissions adhere to platform quality and safety guidelines.
3. **Publication**: Upon approval, the product is published immediately to the active weekly discovery feed and receives a permanent, canonical product page at `/products/[slug]`.

## 5. Weekly Discovery & Organic Rankings
- Launches are organized chronologically by ISO calendar weeks (e.g., Week 33, Week 34, Week 35).
- Visitors can browse the active week, toggle between historical calendar weeks via the week selector, or view the "Recently Shipped" reverse-chronological feed.
- The top 3 ranked products of each week receive visual highlights (gold, silver, and bronze pastel tints).
- Organic rankings are determined transparently by authentic community upvotes within the given week window. Each authenticated user has exactly one toggleable upvote per product.

## 6. Strict Separation of Paid Sponsorships
ShipNLaunch maintains strict isolation between commercial sponsorships and organic discovery:
- "Paid sponsorship does not alter organic product rankings."
- Promotional placements are clearly and transparently labeled as "SPONSORED".
- Sponsorship placements cannot purchase upvotes, modify leaderboard positions, or alter organic search visibility.

## 7. Current Pricing & Sponsorship Options
All current commercial and pricing information is hosted at `https://www.shipnlaunch.com/advertise`:
- **Product Submissions**: 100% Free. Standard listings, permanent product pages, community voting, maker profiles, and category listings carry no fee.
- **Sidebar Spotlight Sponsor**: $5 USD for 7 days (Introductory pricing). Displays in the persistent desktop right contextual sidebar across the homepage, category pages, maker profiles, and search results. Limited to a maximum of 2 slots at any time. Available now.
- **In-Feed Featured Banner**: $10 USD for 7 days (Introductory pricing). Center-feed placement between top-ranked launches. Status: **Opening Soon**.

## 8. Published Product Pages & Maker Profiles
- **Product Pages (`/products/[slug]`)**: Every approved product receives a permanent canonical URL featuring the product name, tagline, verified maker attribution, external website referral link, logo, screenshot gallery, markdown description, category tags, pricing classification, live upvote counter, and authenticated community comments.
- **Maker Profiles (`/makers/[username]`)**: Public maker portfolios showcasing bio, social links, and all products launched by the maker with upvote tallies.
- **Search (`/search?q=...`)**: Fast full-text search across product titles, taglines, descriptions, and category taxonomy.

## 9. Editorial Founder Guides
ShipNLaunch publishes original, actionable guides for software founders at `/blog`:
- How to Launch Your SaaS When Nobody Knows You Yet (`/blog/how-to-launch-your-saas-when-nobody-knows-you-yet`)
- How to Get Your First 20 Users Without Paid Ads (`/blog/how-to-get-your-first-20-users-without-paid-ads`)
- How to Validate a SaaS Idea Before Spending Months Building It (`/blog/how-to-validate-a-saas-idea-before-spending-months-building-it`)
- How to Price an Early-Stage SaaS Without Guessing (`/blog/how-to-price-an-early-stage-saas-without-guessing`)
- What to Do After Launch Day (`/blog/what-to-do-after-launch-day`)

## 10. Verified First-Party URLs
- Homepage: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/
- About: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/about
- FAQ: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/faq
- Sponsorships & Advertising: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/advertise
- Submit Product: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/submit
- Guides Hub: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/blog
- XML Sitemap: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/sitemap.xml
- LLM Discovery: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/llms.txt
- Full LLM Context: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/llms-full.txt
- AI Metadata: https://www.shipnlaunch.com/ai.txt