What hidden barriers that you wishing could have known earlier when launching a game or a product?

I bet you've been the situation where you feel you could have known earlier and do earlier to make a better result on something, it could be a game, a product or whichever you would like to introduce to other people. Yet, there are so many hidden barriers(or shall we call it "rules") to follow before you be able to do that. So, I would like share some of the marketing exp for an indie game developer like me to make life easier(since I found it's much more time consuming on marketing compared to coding).

• Give yourself real lead time. Don’t plan to launch 2–3 weeks after the core game is done—marketing and “hidden” launch work take much longer.

• Start building your community early. Once you have something trailer-ready, set up Discord, Steam Community, subreddit, socials, Twitch, YouTube, and a simple studio site for credibility.

• Set up Twitch + IGDB together. Add your game as a Twitch/IGDB category early so streamers can actually select it.

• Prepare press keys and curators in advance. Use a proper Steam override/press package (not your test or retail one), plan Curator Connect outreach, and don’t hesitate to ask Valve support for guidance.

• Don’t do it all alone(unless you are fully committed to this! ) If launch plus dev is overwhelming, lean on friends for outreach or hire targeted help for PR, emails, or other launch tasks.

This part focusing on the marketing side from the entire loop. And I'm sure you might want to share some of your exp there too, right? What have you encountered when you publishing your games or products? xDD