Shipping your first product on codeGuild
A working checklist for authors: from a repo you are proud of to a listing that clears review and starts selling.
Your first listing is the hardest one, because you are learning the review bar at the same time as you are meeting it. This is the checklist we wish every new author had before they submitted.
## Write the docs first
Before you polish a single feature, write the setup guide as if you had never seen the project. Then hand the repo and the docs to a colleague and watch them try to run it in silence.
Every question they ask out loud is a gap in your documentation. Close those gaps and you will pass the "install it clean" stage of review on the first try, which is where most first submissions stumble.
## Make the demo honest
Your live demo should show the real product with real-looking data. Resist the urge to hide the rough edges. Buyers trust a demo that admits its limits far more than one that overpromises and disappoints after purchase.
Seed the demo with content that tells a story. An empty dashboard sells nothing. A dashboard that looks like a real customer has been using it for a month sells itself.
## Price for the tier
Set your pricing against the license tiers, not against a number you plucked from a competitor. A SaaS Multi-Tenant grant is worth many times a Standard grant, and your pricing should reflect the value of what the buyer is allowed to build.
Underpricing the top tier is the most common mistake. It signals that you do not believe your product can carry a real business, and buyers read that signal instantly.
## Commit to an SLA you can keep
The SLA on your product page is a promise, and buyers will hold you to it. Choose a response time you can honor on your worst week, not your best one.
A modest SLA that you always meet builds more trust than an ambitious one you miss twice. Reliability compounds into reviews, and reviews are what sell the second copy and every copy after it.