THE BIG LAUNCH

May 6 was the big day. The problems began almost immediately. The extension wasn’t ready to be released. We needed just a few more hours to encrypt and sign the extension. Gumroad, the platform I sell Logo Package Express on, would not let me alter the release time I had originally set. I had to release a glorified IOU. My 170 preorder customers, who I imagined to be waiting at their computers in pajamas like it was Christmas morning, all had to unwrap a digital lump of coal — a .txt file notifying them that the extension would be coming later in the day.

Affiliates were sharing links all over the world wide web, people were flocking to the site and there was no product! We finally got the extension ready for release when we realized it wasn’t working on PC for some reason. I had to release SOMETHING — it was launch day! I quickly modified all of my landing page content to say Mac only — I’d been promising Mac and PC for months. I could feel rage from across the globe violently hurtling across time zones to punch me right in the gut.

Emails from angry PC people began flooding in, “This doesn’t work on my PC,” “You send us a .txt file saying it’s coming and now all of a sudden there’s no PC version! What kind of show are you running?”

My face was melting, but I still held out hope that we’d figure out the PC problem before the day was done. At around 5pm we identified the bug and squashed it, but the worst of the damage had already been done.

In the midst of all the late release shenanigans, I find out, via one strongly worded email after another, that 53 of my preorder customers had been double, triple, or QUADRUPLE charged! Gumroad support was nowhere to be found for hours while I frantically sent emails to each and every angry customer assuring them I would get to the bottom of it. When Gumroad support finally got back to me with a solution, I promptly took screenshots of the entire conversation and blasted it out to all 53 customers who had been overcharged. Apparently, it had the effect of humanizing me because several of the angry customers ended up becoming affiliates.

Despite the catastrophic launch, I managed to get everything sorted out by the end of the day. The extension was available for Mac and PC, and refunds were on their way to those who were overcharged.

And beyond my wildest dreams, Logo Package Express did over $12,000 in sales between preorders and launch!!!