A founder-led launch video is a one-minute announcement filmed in about two hours and cut for X, LinkedIn and your site. FogLine Visuals, a video production company in San Francisco, delivers the first cut within 10 business days of the shoot with two revision rounds, and this guide shows how to plan one before launch day.
What the video is for
A founder launch video has one job: get the right people to click through on launch day. It sits at the top of your post on X and LinkedIn, on your landing page and in the email to your list. That's why it's short, and that's why the founder is in it. People follow founders, and a person explaining a product is easier to trust than a logo animation.
What goes into one minute
Most good ones follow the same shape, even when they look different:
- The first few seconds: the news or the problem. Skip the logo intro and say what's new or what's broken.
- Why it exists: the founder, in their own words, on who this is for and why now.
- What it does: screen recordings or product shots. Show the thing instead of describing it.
- The ask: one link and one action. Try it, join the waitlist, book a demo.
If a sentence doesn't do one of those four jobs, it probably doesn't belong in the video.
Script or no script
Founders rarely sound natural reading a full script, and they rarely stay under a minute without one. The middle ground works best: agree on four or five talking points, write the opening line and the ask word for word, and let the founder say the rest in their own words. A teleprompter helps if the founder wants one, but it isn't required. Record a couple of takes of each part and pick the best ones in the edit.
The shoot takes about two hours
For a single founder video, the shoot is short. Most of the time goes into setup: finding a quiet corner, lighting it and checking sound. The founder is needed for less than an hour of that. Filming at your office is the least disruptive option. A studio gives you a cleaner, more controlled look and no surprises with noise or light. For Akuity's Agentic Control Plane launch, for example, we rented a space that matched the brand, set up before CEO Hong Wang arrived and wrapped in about two hours. Here's how that shoot went.
One edit, several versions
You'll post the same video in several places, and each one wants a different shape:
- 16:9 for your website, YouTube and product page.
- Square or 4:5 for LinkedIn.
- 9:16 vertical for X, Instagram and Shorts.
- Burned-in captions on every social version, because a lot of people start watching with the sound off.
Plan these before the shoot. A vertical version comes out much better when the camera operator knew about it on the day.
A timeline that works
Count back from your launch date. With a first cut in about 10 business days and a couple of revision rounds, you want to film at least three weeks before launch. If the product is still changing, film the founder parts first and add the screen recordings closer to the date.
A quick checklist
- The launch date and the one link you'll share
- Four or five talking points, with the first and last lines written out
- Screen recordings of the final product, or a plan to capture them
- Where you'll film and who needs to be there
- Which versions you need: site, LinkedIn, X
If you're launching in San Francisco or the Bay Area, take a look at our founder launch video examples, or launch video production for AI and SaaS startups in San Francisco, or tell us your launch date and we'll plan it with you.
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Francisk Hanchar
Founder, FogLine Visuals
Francisk Hanchar is the founder of FogLine Visuals, a video production company in San Francisco. He produces video podcasts, launch videos and event coverage for startups, and hosts The Bay Signal.
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