Founder stories on The Launch Directory

Why a story per product

Every founder story belongs to one product and one founder. If you founded several products, you write one story for each. Co-founders each write their own story of the same product.

Where

Everything starts at /account/founder/story in your account. It lists your products, each with the state of its story - Not started, Draft or Published on N sites - and a Write or Edit button. You can also start from a listing: its profile screen in your account has a 'Founder story for <product>' card.

Sections and photos

The editor, titled 'Founder story: <product>', breaks the story into six guided parts, from the start to what comes next. Your draft is saved as you type. Photos are optional, up to 4 of them. The 'Help me word this' button, when shown, rewrites what you typed more clearly and never adds facts of its own.

Requirements

Before a story can be published, your founder profile at /account/founder must be complete, because the story shows your name and photo. It also needs at least 3 sections and 200 words, no more than 2 links, and no prices or offers.

Display

Readers find the story at /launch/<listing>/story/<founder>. Each product's story is listed on your founder profile; /stories shows the published stories on the site. The story is part of the full profile, so on a free listing the card stays locked until the listing becomes a paid launch. The product's listing carries a card for the story.

Keeping it current

Wrote one story for all your products before? It stays on your founder profile as general text, and every new product story starts from it. Old /founder/<name>/story links still work: they lead to your product story, or to your founder profile if you have several. Updates go live the moment you publish them again.