A Goals is a named funding target with a visible progress bar: followers contribute cash toward one stated cost, contributions are collected as they arrive, and no reward tiers or shipping obligations attach. To fund a launch, set the goal to a launch-week expense — a demo video, launch-day graphics, or a fixed ad budget. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.
No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. pricing
A near-ready product doesn't need more development time as much as it needs a good launch day: a demo video that actually shows the product, gallery images sized for the platform, and maybe a small ad budget to get the first wave of eyes on it. Launch-week costs are not the same as the months of hosting bills that got the product built, and they are what the published launch data actually measures: Product Hunt's launch guide lists a demo video as optional and reports that about 53% of products that reached Product of the Day since 2021 include a video (Product Hunt — Preparing for Launch).
What counts as a "launch cost" instead of a "build cost"?
A launch cost is an expense tied to the days around going live: a demo video, launch-day gallery images, or a short paid-ads window. A build cost is what it took to reach "ready to ship" — hosting, a paid API, dev time. Funding each as its own goal keeps both asks countable.
The distinction changes what you're asking for. "Help me cover a demo video and three days of ads for launch week" is a specific, checkable number a follower can picture funding. A vaguer "help me launch" ask is harder to size, because the reader can't tell whether $50 or $500 is needed. Naming the launch-specific line item — not a general "support the launch" plea — is what makes a goal easy to evaluate and easy to know when it's met.
How does a goal work for a launch push?
Supporters make one-time contributions toward the named target, and the progress bar moves as they arrive. Goals have no reward tiers or physical perks. You may add a deadline as a countdown, but contributions are not cancelled if the goal is missed.
Brillay's terms require only that goals be connected to a stated creator project or goal, and prohibit disguising a personal money transfer as a goal payment. A launch goal sits on the same Brillay page as your other offers, so a follower watching your build-in-public updates can fund the launch push from the link already in your bio — a fit covered further in how developers use Brillay.
Early access to the finished product, if you want to offer it, belongs in a separate Custom Work offer with its own scope and delivery time rather than inside the goal.
What actually needs funding on launch day?
Three costs recur on almost every launch: a demo video or GIF, launch-day image assets, and a short paid-promotion window. Product Hunt's launch guide recommends gallery images at 1270x760 pixels and caps a launch tagline at 60 characters, so the asset work is fixed-scope and quotable.
| Launch cost | What it covers | Sizing reference |
|---|---|---|
| Demo video or GIF | A short screen-capture or Loom-style walkthrough for the launch listing | Optional; about 53% of products that reached Product of the Day since 2021 include a video |
| Gallery images | Screenshots or graphics shown on the launch listing | Recommended gallery size 1270x760px (Product Hunt) |
| Launch-day copy | Tagline plus the maker's first comment on the listing | Tagline capped at 60 characters (Product Hunt) |
| Launch-week ads | A short paid push to a landing page or waitlist | No universal figure — size to your own ad platform's budget, not a claimed industry average |
A goal that names two or three of these — "cover a demo video plus three days of ads" — is easier for a supporter to evaluate than one lump sum labeled simply "launch fund."
What does an example launch-funding budget look like?
A worked launch budget prices three things: one demo video, four gallery images at the 1270x760 size Product Hunt recommends, and a fixed number of ad days on one platform. Every dollar figure below is an illustrative assumption chosen to show the method — none is a surveyed market rate or a Brillay benchmark.
| Example line item | Example assumption | Example amount |
|---|---|---|
| Demo video | One 90-second screen capture, freelance editor | $250 (example figure, not a market rate) |
| Gallery images | 4 images at the 1270x760px gallery size Product Hunt recommends | $120 (example figure, not a market rate) |
| Launch-week ads | $40/day for 3 days on one named ad platform | $120 (example figure, not a market rate) |
| Buffer | ~10% for a re-edit or an extra ad day | $50 (example figure, not a market rate) |
| Stated goal | The number that goes on the progress bar | $540 (example total) |
Publish the assumptions alongside the number, not just the total: "$540 covers a 90-second demo video, four gallery images, and three days of ads at $40/day" tells a contributor exactly what their money buys. Fees come off the top of whatever is funded — the platform fee noted above applies to Goals, and card processing is charged separately by Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 for typical US online card payments (Stripe pricing), so budget the goal against what actually lands.
Does a good launch listing actually need a video and images?
Neither is mandatory. Product Hunt lists a launch video as optional and reports that 70% of products that achieved Product of the Day, Week, or Month had a first comment posted by the maker, so the cheapest launch asset is the one you write yourself.
"The best day to launch is the day on which you're most prepared." — Product Hunt Launch Guide
Product Hunt's "most prepared" framing supports funding the assets before picking a date, rather than picking a date and scrambling to produce a video and images the week of. A goal with a visible progress bar gives you a natural signal for "prepared enough to schedule it."
Should launch-week ad spend be part of the goal?
Ad spend belongs in the goal when you can state it as a platform, a daily amount, and a day count. It does not belong there as a round number pegged to a claimed industry-average ad cost: published "average CPC" and "average ad budget" figures vary too widely by source and category to cite as a single fact.
"$40/day for three days on one platform" is a checkable line item; "boost my launch" is not.
"You should have measurable goals that you can work towards and evaluate your launch against." — Product Hunt Launch Guide — Preparation
A launch-ads figure tied to a specific platform and day count is measurable in the way Product Hunt's guide describes, and it gives supporters — and you — a clear line for when the goal is met.
How is this different from crowdfunding a whole product?
A launch-goal funds one named cost with no obligation attached to contribution size; rewards crowdfunding pre-sells the product itself. Kickstarter Support states that "Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model" and that campaigns run from one day to 60, with 30 days working best (Kickstarter Support — Why is funding all-or-nothing?). Set that against one named goal with a progress bar on the page your followers already visit — the money lands as it's collected, with no all-or-nothing bar to clear first.
The obligation difference is the one that matters most for a solo founder.
"When a project is successfully funded, the creator is responsible for completing the project and fulfilling each reward to the best of their abilities." — Kickstarter Support — What is a creator obligated to do once their project is funded?
Cost differs too. Kickstarter collects a 5% platform fee from the funds collected on a successfully funded project, plus roughly 3–5% in Stripe payment processing. Indiegogo charges 5% of the collected amount as its platform fee and applies a fixed per-transaction payment-processing fee in the project currency (Indiegogo Knowledge Base — Fees).
| Approach | What's being funded | Obligation to funders |
|---|---|---|
| Brillay Goals | A named launch cost (video, assets, ads) | No reward tiers or physical perks; an optional deadline is a countdown, not a funding cutoff |
| Rewards crowdfunding (Kickstarter) | The product itself, pre-sold under an all-or-nothing goal (Kickstarter Support) | The creator "is responsible for completing the project and fulfilling each reward" (Kickstarter Support) |
| Rewards crowdfunding (Indiegogo) | The product itself, with a 5% platform fee on the collected amount (Indiegogo Knowledge Base) | Rewards fulfillment tied to the perks a campaign sells |
| Equity financing (pre-seed or Regulation Crowdfunding) | The company, in exchange for securities | An equity stake, where "there may be additional classes of equity with rights that are superior" to the class sold (SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy) |
Scale separates the categories as well: Regulation Crowdfunding lets a company raise a maximum aggregate of $5 million in a 12-month period and requires audited financial statements above $1.235 million (SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy — Investor Bulletin: Regulation Crowdfunding). A $540 demo-video-and-ads goal is not that instrument, and shouldn't be described as one.
If your build phase still needs funding too — hosting, a paid API, dev time before the product is ready to ship — that's a separate, earlier goal; see funding an indie SaaS build for how to scope that distinctly from the launch push.
What else can pair with a launch-goal?
Tips, Paid Questions, Custom Work, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries can all sit beside Goals on one Brillay page. Paid Questions and Custom Work have a price and delivery time you set; Tips and Goals take one-time support, while Brand Collaboration Inquiries collect a brand’s budget, timeline, and deliverables into a separate brand inbox. Keeping them distinct is what lets a supporter tell which one their money is paying for. (how it works)
- Tips: Tips let a supporter send a one-time thank-you for a launch-week update, with nothing to deliver in return and without adding it to the named Goal.
- Paid Questions: Answer a question about your stack, pricing, or launch decision from a follower who wants your take, replied to in writing.
- Custom Work: Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.
- Brand Collaboration Inquiries: A separate inbox for tool vendors who want to discuss a launch-week sponsorship rather than a one-time gift.
Keep the goal narrow. Folding "fund my launch ads" and "also buy my code review" into one ask makes it harder for a supporter to tell what their contribution pays for.
How do you get a launch-funding page live?
Name the launch cost, set it as the goal amount with a short description of what it covers, and link the page where you post build-in-public updates. To publish a Goal, claim your Brillay link, name the cost, set the target, and share the goal page. Supporters make one-time contributions toward it, with nothing to deliver in return.
Starting costs nothing: there is no subscription to buy, and the platform fee only applies when a supporter pays you.
Related reading: how to write a custom request offer covers scoping a priced deliverable if you plan to pair the launch goal with a paid service once the product ships, and developers can sell code review and bug fixes covers a common paired offer for a technical audience.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to what creators ask before setting a launch goal: how it differs from Kickstarter, whether to split build funding from launch funding, what audience size it needs, what happens when a goal is only partly funded by launch day, and what Brillay charges on the money that comes in.
Is this the same as running a Kickstarter for my launch?
No. Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing model and funded creators must fulfil their rewards. A Brillay Goal has no reward tiers or physical perks, and an optional deadline is a countdown rather than a funding cutoff.
Should I fund the build phase and the launch phase in one goal?
Keep them separate. A build-phase goal (hosting, tooling, dev time) and a launch-phase goal (video, assets, ads) are different costs with different timing; naming each distinctly makes both easier for a supporter to evaluate. See funding an indie SaaS build for the build-phase version.
Do I need a big audience to fund a launch push?
Goals have no follower minimum or audience threshold. Goals work at whatever audience size you have.
What if I raise less than the goal by launch day?
Contributions are collected as they're made toward the stated goal rather than held until a threshold is hit, so a partially funded goal isn't voided. That is the opposite of Kickstarter's model, where "funding is all-or-nothing" and no money changes hands if a campaign misses its goal.
What does Brillay charge on a funded launch goal?
The platform fee named earlier on this page applies to what a goal collects, and Stripe's typical US online-card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 applies separately. For comparison, Kickstarter collects a 5% platform fee plus roughly 3–5% processing on a successfully funded project.
Create your free Brillay page, publish your Goal, and share one link. Supporters can contribute by card as guests; no follower account needed.
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