Launch an influencer campaign for changelog tools
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a changelog tool. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English indie SaaS, 25-38, already bounced off a GitHub releases page nobody reads and a Twitter ship thread that died in 20 minutes, watches 'nobody reads the changelog' and 'I shipped and Slack was silent' videos after a release night. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You really need to do this for hundreds of creators a day, because the market is not efficient. Some dumb startup is paying thousands for hundreds of views. I scroll as the person who would pay for this tool on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator fees extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I shipped the thing they asked for and the only likes were other founders. They already tried GitHub releases nobody reads, a Twitter ship thread, and a Notion page they linked once in an email. Skip the launch-playbook guru selling Product Hunt templates. Adjacent is silent Slack, ship nights, not Series-B launch theater. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone posting a ship thread that gets three likes, all from other founders. Signal: the same silent-Slack face two release nights.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a tiny SaaS footer. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Launch coaches quote playbook prices. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. Write an entry, send it, no PH playbook. Write the entry, send it, show one user reply. Stop.
Why most first changelog tools campaigns stall
01
Launch coaches quote playbook prices. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Silent-ship rants already have the audience; a changelog email people open is the product.
02
People tag #buildinpublic when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A PH badge with no changelog subscribers.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask them to fake a launch. Ask them to send one changelog to real users.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. A working changelog they can email to 10 users tonight.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is signups to a live changelog product, unique link.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would pay for this tool on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Launch coaches quote playbook prices. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The tag is launch coaches; they want a PH playbook affiliate. I read the session the person who would pay for this tool actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.