SaaS Launch Checklist for Non-Technical Founders

You built your SaaS with Claude Code, and it works on your screen. Before strangers start signing up and paying, there are things to check that slip through when you're focused on features: emails that never got tested, payments still in test mode, a missing privacy policy.

This SaaS launch checklist is for founders who build with Claude Code in plain English rather than writing code. It covers what you need to launch a SaaS in six areas: product, email, payments, legal, analytics and launch day. Each item is something you can check yourself or hand to Claude Code with a short message, and each section includes one you can copy.

Prefer paper? Download the printable checklist (PDF) and tick items off as you go.

How do you use this SaaS launch checklist?

Work through it from top to bottom about a week before your launch date. Most items take a few minutes; a few, like Stripe business verification, can take longer because they depend on someone else.

If you're still building, start with our guide to building a SaaS with Claude Code and come back here when the core features work.

Product: does your SaaS work for someone who isn't you?

The test that matters is whether a stranger can sign up and get value without your help. You know where every button is; they don't.

• Sign up with an email address you've never used on your SaaS, and go through the whole first visit.
• Log out, use "forgot password", and log back in with the new password.
• Use it on your phone as well as a laptop.
• Your live site uses your own domain and shows the padlock in the address bar (HTTPS).
• A page that doesn't exist shows a friendly message, not a blank screen.
• Secret keys live in your hosting settings as environment variables (settings your live project reads, kept out of your project files).
• Your users' data is backed up.
• One or two people have tried it without help while you watched where they got stuck.

Before I launch, please review the project like a careful tester. Walk through sign-up, login, password reset and the main thing people come here to do, and list anything that breaks, looks unfinished or would confuse a new user. Then tell me where my users' data is stored and whether it's backed up.

You'll get a list of problems to work through, and a plain answer about your data. Fix anything that blocks sign-up or login first.

Email: is every transactional email ready before launch?

Transactional emails are the automatic ones your SaaS sends because someone did something: a welcome email after sign-up, a password reset, a receipt. If one is missing or broken, people get locked out or think their payment failed, so check them before anyone else sees them.

Your project can't reliably send email by itself. It needs a transactional email service, which delivers each email and keeps a record of what was sent.

• You know which emails your SaaS sends and when. Our list of transactional emails every SaaS needs is a good place to compare, or ask Claude Code to plan the set for your product.
• Emails come from your own domain, such as hello@yourcompany.com. That means adding a few DNS records (settings where your domain is registered) so email services can confirm you own it.
• You've received a test of every email in a real inbox, and checked the wording, links, names and layout on your phone. Our guide to testing emails before users see them covers what to look for.
• Replies go to an address someone reads.
• Transactional emails stay transactional. In the US, messages that confirm a transaction are exempt from most CAN-SPAM rules, but adding sales pitches can change that, so keep promotions out.
• You know how to find out whether a particular email went out.

I'm launching next week. Please list every email the SaaS sends and the moment each one goes out. Then send a test of each one to hello@yourcompany.com so I can check the wording, links and layout before real users get them.

You'll get a list you can compare with the checklist above, and a test of each email in your inbox.

If you haven't set up email yet, SimpleSends is a transactional email service built for people who build with Claude Code but don't write code. You sign up on our website, follow the steps there to add your domain's DNS records, and connect SimpleSends to Claude Code as a connector, a link that lets Claude Code use another service while you build. (Connectors use MCP, a standard way for AI tools to connect to other services.) From then on, Claude Code designs, writes, builds and tests your emails in the chat. If a user says an email never arrived, Claude Code can check the send logs and tell you what happened.

Payments: is Stripe ready to take real money?

Stripe gives you a sandbox, a test environment where nothing real is charged, and a live mode for real payments. Most launch-day payment problems come from something that worked in the sandbox but was never set up in live mode.

• You've verified your business in Stripe. It asks about your business, your product and your role before live mode works, and may ask for more later.
• Your products and prices exist in live mode. Stripe doesn't carry sandbox products over, so they need creating again.
• Live webhooks are set up. A webhook is a message Stripe sends your project when something happens, such as a payment going through. Stripe keeps test and live webhooks separate, so the live ones need adding.
• Your live secret keys (Stripe's API keys, the passwords your project uses to talk to Stripe) are in your hosting settings, not in your project files. Stripe recommends replacing keys before launch if they were ever saved somewhere they shouldn't be.
• Your public business details, including your support email and the name on card statements, are clear. Stripe notes that customers who don't recognize a charge may dispute it.
• You've made one real purchase with your own card and then refunded it.
• Receipts and failed-payment emails go out from your SaaS. See how to send your own emails after a Stripe payment.

I'm switching Stripe from the sandbox to live mode. Please check that the live products and prices match the ones we tested, that live webhooks are set up for the same events, and that the live keys are stored in my hosting settings, not in the project files. Tell me anything I need to do in the Stripe dashboard myself.

You'll get a short list of what's ready and what still needs doing, split between Claude Code's part and yours.

Legal: which pages does a SaaS need before launch?

Most SaaS products publish a privacy policy, terms of service and, if they charge, a refund or cancellation policy. Many also need a cookie notice. This section is general information, not legal advice.

• Privacy policy. If you offer your SaaS to people in the EU, the GDPR (the EU's data protection law) applies even if your business is based elsewhere. A privacy policy says who you are, what data you collect and why, who receives it, how long you keep it, and what rights people have.
• Every outside service is listed. Your hosting, database, payments, email service and analytics all handle your users' data, so each belongs in your privacy policy.
• Terms of service. These set the rules for using your SaaS: what you provide, what users may not do, and what happens if things go wrong.
• Refund and cancellation policy, if you charge.
• Cookie notice and consent. UK guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office says cookies that aren't strictly necessary need consent given by a clear action, such as clicking a button. Cookies that keep someone logged in or remember a basket usually don't.
• Links to these pages appear in the footer of every page and on your sign-up form.

Please list every outside service my SaaS uses and what personal data each one receives, so I can use it for my privacy policy. Then add footer links to a privacy policy, terms of service and cookie notice on every page, and draft a starting version of each for me to review.

Claude Code can draft starting versions, but have a lawyer review them before you rely on them, especially if you handle health, financial or children's data.

Analytics: how will you know what's working after launch?

Set up analytics before launch day, so you can see where people came from and where they dropped off from the very first visit.

• You've picked a few numbers that matter: visits, sign-ups, people who complete the main task, and paid upgrades.
• Analytics are installed and counting on the live site, not only on a preview.
• Sign-ups and payments are tracked as events, so they show up as numbers rather than page views.
• You know whether your analytics tool sets cookies, and your cookie notice matches. Some tools avoid cookies. Vercel Web Analytics, for example, doesn't use third-party cookies and identifies visitors with a hash that's discarded after 24 hours.
• Your analytics tool is listed in your privacy policy.
• You'll hear about errors on the live site, ideally before your users tell you.

Set up analytics so I can see visits, sign-ups and paid upgrades each day. Use something privacy-friendly, tell me whether it sets cookies, and add it to the list of services for my privacy policy. I'd also like an email alert when the live site has errors.

You'll get analytics running on the live site, a plain answer about cookies, and an alert you can test.

Launch day: what should you do on the day?

On launch day, watch rather than build. Big changes on the day make it hard to tell what caused a problem.

• In the morning, sign up, reset a password and make a purchase on the live site one more time.
• Keep an eye on sign-ups and on whether emails are going out.
• A support address is on your site, and you'll check it through the day.
• Your launch announcement to a waitlist goes through a marketing email service. Transactional email services are for the emails people trigger by using your SaaS, such as sign-ups and receipts.
• You're keeping a list of problems people report, and fixing whatever blocks sign-up, login or payment first.
• You've blocked time in the following week to read feedback and fix what came up.

We're live today. Please check sign-up, password reset and checkout on the live site one more time, and tell me if any email in the last few hours failed to send.

You'll get a quick pass over the main flows and a list of any failed emails, with the reason for each.