What needs to be finished first
At least five documented customer interactions or concrete Job-to-be-Done insights are available so the press release does not emerge from internal imagination.
What needs to be ready before start
Press-release template (headline, subheadline, date, city, lead paragraph with problem and solution, customer quote, spokesperson quote, call to action); FAQ template (internal and external questions); reviewer list; tracking tool for iterations.
One owner (PM or product lead) as author; one to two reviewers per iteration; sponsor with veto right; optional copy editor for clarity; stakeholders for FAQ answers.
Vision or strategy anchor; customer research with quotes; known constraints (tech, regulation, market); comparable competitor releases as inspiration; definition of what happens after acceptance.
4-8 h spread across several iterations
Create document with two sections: Press Release and FAQ. Put reviewer sessions in calendar. Define iteration cadence (for example Initial Draft, Review Round 1, 2, 3, Final).
The one question this method answers
Which press release and FAQ can the team write today so it becomes clear what the launch will mean for customers in 12-24 months and whether it is worth building?
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Headline and subheadline | 30-45 min | Iterate headline (max 10 words) and subheadline (impact in one sentence). Write at least three versions, choose the best one. Test: would a customer stop scrolling? | If the headline contains feature lists, it is not headline-ready. Impact before functionality. If a customer cannot understand the benefit from headline and subheadline, the story is unclear. |
2Phase 2: Lead paragraph and problem | 45-60 min | First paragraph: date, city, company, product statement. Second paragraph: problem in customer language, without insider jargon. Concrete scenario with person and situation. | The problem paragraph tests whether the team understands what genuinely frustrates customers today. If it uses assumptions instead of observations, the concept rests on sand. |
3Phase 3: Solution and customer quote | 45-60 min | Explain solution in 2-3 sentences: what, how, why better than today. Write customer quote as if a real user (for example Sabine) had said it. Quote must be specific, not generic ("great app"). | If the quote would also fit a competitor, it is too general. The quote must name the unique thing only this product provides. |
4Phase 4: Spokesperson quote and call to action | 30-45 min | Quote from sponsor or founder with strategic message. Make call to action concrete (where to buy, sign up, learn more). Roughly target date, availability, and price. | CTA must be expressible today. If nobody can say what the customer should do after the release, the concept is not mature yet. |
5Phase 5: FAQ (internal and external) | 1-2 h | At least 15 hard questions: technical feasibility, economics, regulation, competition, risks, cannibalization. Answer honestly, marking open points and assumptions. | FAQ is the hardest part. If the team cannot answer it honestly, it does not know the initiative. Open answers force spikes and validations. |
6Phase 6: Review iterations | Half day to 1 day | At least two review rounds with reviewer pool. Written comments per round, then revision. Version every draft. Sponsor signs final version or rejects. | Reviewer comments often reveal story gaps. Cosmetic incorporation misses the point. Substantive criticism leads to revision of solution or problem. |
What comes out at the end
Press-release document (max 1.5 pages) plus FAQ (3-6 pages) with versioned iterations, reviewer comments, decider signature, and references to underlying research sources.
Date and version per iteration (v0.1, v0.2, ...). Final version with signature and date. Later strategic updates create a new major version; the old one remains archived.
Compact working template for Working Backwards with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
Writes the press release and FAQ for a solution first, before it is built (Amazon).
When and for what do we use this method?
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Short notes along the runsheet.
Owner, date, and success signal.
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 2027-09-15, Munich
Munich, 2027-09-15 - Clarity GmbH today launches the Clarity copilot for solo self-employed professionals in DACH. The product shows current tax burden and liquidity at any time, without users manually sorting receipts or waiting.
Until now, many solo self-employed people learned about their tax burden only in a quarterly conversation with their tax advisor. Until then, they did not know how much they could safely spend.
Clarity captures receipts by photo in under 30 seconds, classifies them automatically, and updates tax and liquidity status live. A DATEV-compatible export can be sent to the tax advisor at any time.
"Now I know over morning coffee whether I can buy the new laptop today or not," says Sabine M., solo tax advisor from Leipzig. "I only call my advisor for the annual review now, not for interim status."
"We want to close the knowledge gap between self-employed people and their tax position," says @julia, founder of Clarity. "Daily tax clarity used to be reserved for large companies with in-house accounting. We bring it to everyone."
Clarity is available today for iOS, Android, and web, starting at EUR 12/month. Learn more at clarity.app.
How accurate is the tax forecast? Initially +/-5% based on receipt classification. Accuracy improves with data volume. The exact final statement remains with the tax advisor.
Will tax advisors accept our DATEV export? Validation assumption. Status: 5 tax-advisor conversations by 2026-06-15, then update.
What happens during a tax audit? Users retain full receipt data in Clarity, exportable at any time. Clarity is not a tax-advisor substitute for legally binding advice.
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Headline says "App with AI OCR and DATEV export" instead of impact.
Express impact in customer language. Test: would a customer understand what they get from the headline? Feature lists belong in the FAQ, not on the cover.
Customer quote could fit three other products as well.
Make quote specific: what can the customer do with this product that they could not do without it? Name, profession, concrete situation. If the quote is interchangeable, differentiation is missing.
FAQ answers all sound positive, difficult questions are dodged.
At least three questions should have an answer like "we do not know yet, validate by X". An honest FAQ is the value of the method. Smoothing misses the purpose.
Owner writes alone, no reviewer comes in, blind spots remain.
At least two reviewers from different disciplines (engineering, sales/market, customer contact). Comment round with deadline. Owner revises substantively.
Team writes PR to impress stakeholders instead of sharpening the concept.
The method is a thinking tool. If writing changes nothing about the solution, the lever was missed. PR iteration must influence concept.
CTA says "More at example.com", but nobody can say what the customer will actually do.
Make CTA concrete: signup, download, booking, trial. If that cannot be defined, go-to-market is not thought through.
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.