I just launched Rate My App[0] yesterday evening on Hacker News, so this is great timing. :)<p>In the four days between idea and launch, how much time did I spend on the landing page, and would I do it again?<p>As an experienced engineer, I realized the first thing I had to worry about was the marketing content, so I spent the first day configuring my social accounts and creating and uploading a video.<p>Short version:<p>Yesterday, I implemented my own design because I wanted a simple site that had exactly the code I needed. I would do it again, especially since the next time I can re-use the build process I created.<p>Longer version:<p>Assuming you're familiar with CSS and HTML, you're better off finding a decent template or web site and re-creating the few parts about it you like yourself. Using a fancy template will be a time sink, both in understanding all the complicated things the author threw in, but also focusing your time on making your site perfect (since you just paid for it) rather than focusing on launching.<p>And in the two days in-between, I figured out the value I could bring to customers. I also spent a lot of time configuring payments, emails, form submissions, etc.<p>Establishing some process to collect feedback and getting your name and purpose out there is the main point of launching, so worry about that more than the landing page.<p>TL;DR: as far as systems, you're better off establishing some kind of a process (hopefully an off-the-shelf system that can function independent of your concerns) that allows you to iterate on your actual product quickly. As far as visuals, though, spending lots of time on making this tiny part of your product perfectly integrated with a particular template can make it emotionally difficult or time-consuming for you to replace or modify as necessary later on.<p>I'm writing a series of blog posts (@vla on twitter) about this, by the way.<p>[0] the app: www.ratemyapp.com