# DocFast Launch Marketing Plan

*Created: 2026-02-14 | Status: DRAFT for CEO review*

## Product Summary

**DocFast** (docfast.dev) — HTML/Markdown/URL to PDF API with built-in invoice & receipt templates.
- Free: 100 PDFs/mo, all features
- Pro: $9/mo for 10,000 PDFs/mo
- No credit card for signup, instant API key

---

## 1. Target Audience

### Primary
- **SaaS developers** who need to generate invoices, reports, or receipts programmatically
- **Freelancers/agencies** building client apps that export to PDF (dashboards, proposals)
- **E-commerce platforms** needing order confirmations, shipping labels, receipts

### Secondary
- **Internal tool builders** generating reports from dashboards/data
- **No-code/low-code builders** who use Zapier/Make and need PDF outputs
- **Solo developers** with side projects needing occasional PDF generation

### Pain Points We Solve
- Setting up headless Chrome/Puppeteer is painful and resource-heavy
- Self-hosted solutions (wkhtmltopdf) have rendering inconsistencies
- Existing APIs are expensive (DocRaptor starts at $15/mo for fewer conversions)
- Most APIs don't include templates — you still have to build HTML

---

## 2. Key Differentiators vs Competitors

| Feature | DocFast | DocRaptor | PDFShift | HTML2PDF API |
|---------|---------|-----------|----------|--------------|
| Free tier | 100/mo | 5 test docs | 50/mo | 100/mo |
| Pro price | $9/mo (10k) | $15/mo (750) | $9/mo (500) | $14/mo (2.5k) |
| Built-in templates | ✅ Invoice, Receipt | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Markdown support | ✅ Native endpoint | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| URL conversion | ✅ with JS rendering | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cold starts | None (browser pool) | N/A (Prince XML) | Varies | Varies |
| Data stored | Never | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |

**Key talking points:**
1. **13x more PDFs per dollar** than DocRaptor ($9 for 10k vs $15 for 750)
2. **Built-in templates** — pass JSON, get invoice. No HTML needed.
3. **Native Markdown endpoint** — unique in the market
4. **Sub-second generation** — persistent browser pool, no cold starts
5. **Privacy-first** — data never stored, streamed directly

---

## 3. Free Launch Channels

### Hacker News — Show HN
- **When:** Weekday, ~10am EST (peak HN traffic)
- **Draft:** See `show-hn-draft.md`
- **Tips:** Be honest, technical, mention it's a solo/small project. HN loves "I built X" stories.

### DEV.to Article
- **Draft:** See `devto-draft.md`
- **Angle:** Technical tutorial — "Generate PDFs from Markdown with One API Call"
- **Tags:** #api #webdev #node #tutorial

### Reddit
- **r/webdev** — "I built a simple PDF API with a generous free tier" (Show off)
- **r/node** — Tutorial-style: "How I generate invoices from JSON in Node.js"
- **r/SaaS** — "Launched my first SaaS: lessons from building a PDF API"
- **r/selfhosted** — If we open-source anything, share there
- **Rules:** Each sub has self-promo rules. Read them first. Be genuine, answer comments.

### Twitter/X
- **Draft:** See `tweets-draft.md`
- **Strategy:** Thread format, tag #buildinpublic, #indiehackers, #webdev
- **Engage:** Reply to people complaining about PDF generation (search "puppeteer pdf", "wkhtmltopdf sucks", etc.)

### Discord Servers
- **Indie Hackers** discord
- **Theo's T3** discord (web dev)
- **Fireship** discord
- **Various Node.js / web dev servers** — share in #showcase or #projects channels only

### Product Hunt
- Save for a separate launch day (coordinate with CEO)
- Needs good visuals, a short demo video

---

## 4. SEO Strategy

### Target Keywords
| Keyword | Intent | Difficulty |
|---------|--------|-----------|
| html to pdf api | Transactional | Medium |
| markdown to pdf api | Transactional | Low |
| generate pdf from html | Informational | Medium |
| pdf generation api | Transactional | Medium |
| invoice pdf api | Transactional | Low |
| html to pdf service | Transactional | Medium |
| convert url to pdf api | Transactional | Low |
| free pdf api | Transactional | Medium |

### Meta Tags Recommendations for Landing Page
```html
<title>DocFast — HTML & Markdown to PDF API | Free 100 PDFs/mo</title>
<meta name="description" content="Convert HTML, Markdown, and URLs to PDF with one API call. Built-in invoice templates. Free tier: 100 PDFs/mo. No credit card required.">
<meta name="keywords" content="html to pdf api, markdown to pdf, pdf generation api, invoice pdf api, convert html to pdf">

<!-- Open Graph -->
<meta property="og:title" content="DocFast — Beautiful PDFs, One API Call">
<meta property="og:description" content="HTML & Markdown to PDF API with built-in templates. 100 free PDFs/month.">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://docfast.dev">

<!-- Twitter -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="DocFast — HTML & Markdown to PDF API">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="One API call. Beautiful PDFs. Free tier included.">
```

### Landing Page SEO Improvements
- Add an H1 with primary keyword: "HTML & Markdown to PDF API"
- Add a `/blog` section for content marketing
- Create `/pricing` and `/docs` as separate indexable pages
- Add JSON-LD structured data (SoftwareApplication schema)
- Submit sitemap to Google Search Console immediately

---

## 5. Content Ideas

### Tutorial Blog Posts
1. "Generate Invoices from JSON with DocFast (Node.js Tutorial)"
2. "Convert Markdown Docs to PDF — A Developer's Guide"
3. "How to Add PDF Export to Your React App in 5 Minutes"
4. "Automated Report Generation with DocFast + Cron Jobs"
5. "Building a Receipt System for Your SaaS with One API Call"

### Comparison Articles (good for SEO)
1. "DocFast vs DocRaptor: Price, Features, and Performance Compared"
2. "5 Best HTML to PDF APIs in 2026 (with Free Tiers)"
3. "Puppeteer vs PDF APIs: When to Self-Host vs Use a Service"
4. "DocFast vs PDFShift: Which PDF API is Right for You?"

### Developer-Focused Content
1. "Why We Don't Store Your Data: Privacy-First PDF Generation"
2. "How We Achieve Sub-Second PDF Generation (Architecture Deep Dive)"
3. "From Markdown to Beautiful PDF: Our Rendering Pipeline"

---

## 6. Launch Timeline (Suggested)

| Day | Action |
|-----|--------|
| Day 1 | Post Show HN, publish DEV.to article |
| Day 1 | Tweet launch thread |
| Day 2 | Reddit posts (stagger across subs) |
| Day 2 | Share in Discord servers |
| Day 3-5 | Engage with all comments, iterate based on feedback |
| Week 2 | Publish first blog post / tutorial |
| Week 3 | Product Hunt launch (separate event) |
| Week 4 | First comparison article |

---

## 7. Metrics to Track
- Sign-ups (free API keys issued)
- Conversion free → pro
- Traffic sources (which channel drives most signups)
- API usage patterns (which endpoints are most popular)

---

*All drafts are for CEO review. Nothing will be posted without approval.*
