LaunchRock, The Most Meta Startup Ever, Builds Viral Launch Pages

In case you needed another “you know there’s a bubble when …” tech post, LaunchRock, a startup that builds viral launch pages for other startups, is launching today via its own product. Inspired by the viral launch pages of Fork.ly and Hipster, the guys behind LaunchRock thought that they could streamline the process of getting users to sign up for startup betas, and built an entire launch page building platform.

Co-founder Jameson Detweiler explains that the advantages of a system that gives earlier access to a product to users based on the number of friends they invite, is that it shows you the level of demand and allows you to build a list of the most eager candidates. Using this type of page, local Q&A site Hipster brought in over 10K sign ups without mention of what it does.

“The invite code model is broken. You can give out 1000 of them, have them dissappear on TechCrunch and only 50 people (or less) actually use the site. With LaunchRock people show that they really want to get in.”

Built at Startup Weekend on Saturday, LaunchRock has since received over a 1000 sign ups and is letting 25 people into its beta today, 10 of those  TechCrunch readers. Access to LaunchRock provides you with a backend from which to build your launch page, an IP address to set your @ A record to, a unique link to share with your friends, as well as access to LaunchRock analytics services.

Already they’ve received interest from heavy hitters such a Boxcar for use in a product unveiling. Flowtown co-founder Dan Martell has used it as the signup page for his Canadian startup email list Maplebutter.

Says Detweiler, “I launched my last start up (http://greenkonnect.com) the wrong way, spent too much time building without know if the audience was there, and by the time we were ready to launch it, we didn’t have anyone to use it, then it was really hard to find people to use it.”

TechCrunch readers who sign up on LaunchRock.com and want immediate access can tweet their referral link to @getlaunchrock with the text loop “RockLaunch Rocks Launches!” After the first ten today, LaunchRock will be letting TC readers through in batches of 5 with every roll out.

In addition to coming up with ways to keep startups around after launch, LaunchRock is planning a widget so you can use LaunchRock on your own landing page, premium services and a potential affiliate program as a business model.