Do I need to build for every platform where my customers live?

No. Most teams can sustain only two or three listings well. The playbook forces a shortlist: qualify platforms where your actual customers work, inspect discoverability and review cost for each, then choose only where expected qualified installs justify build and ongoing support. A broken or abandoned listing hurts more than no listing.

Can I get listed without passing a security or privacy review?

No. Every serious directory requires at least least-privilege permissions, secure credential storage, HTTPS, a privacy policy and a working install flow, and many require scope justification, data-use disclosure and a support contact before reviewers even look. Build these first; otherwise you will be returned to the queue.

What if my product handles sensitive health, financial or children's data?

Then expect an additional access request, security assessment or contractual step on most platforms and a narrower scope review. Identify the platform-specific requirement for your data category in the dashboard and policy pages before you write code, because approval timelines and required documentation change materially.

How long does review take and can I launch on a fixed date?

You cannot fix a launch date. Slack notes preliminary feedback currently up to 1 week and functional review up to 8 weeks with further cycles after feedback; Zapier states contact within 1 week or less after submission but not approval; Chrome and Shopify add their own validation and human review. Plan with incompressible waits and do not promise a launch until you hold approval.

Will directory traffic alone prove the integration is worth keeping?

No. Listing-page views do not establish value. Measure qualified installs, activation, retained active integrations, support burden and attributable revenue with separate source tracking per platform, and set in advance the threshold that will end maintenance if a listing underperforms.

Get distributed through other people's platforms

The product listed where its buyers already are: the two or three integration directories and app marketplaces worth the build chosen on evidence, each listing's review requirements met, the integration shipped and maintained, and the platform-dependency risk written down with a limit on how much of the business may rest on any one of them.

Fby Finito HQEchipa Finito

Created 3 weeks agoUpdated 2 weeks ago

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Who it's for

Indie makers and small teams with a working product that could plausibly plug into a bigger tool — workplace chat, commerce, browser, editor, or automation platform — who have never listed in an app directory and are spending on ads while that directory sits empty

About this playbook

This playbook gets your product onto the shelves your buyers already browse — the integration directories and app marketplaces for Slack, Shopify, browser stores, automation platforms and similar ecosystems. You will shortlist platforms on evidence from your own customers, inspect what each directory actually sends and what it demands to list, choose only the two or three worth the build, then build, submit, pass review and maintain the integration. The path is practical and sequential: qualification, then due diligence per platform, then a build and submission that meets each store's authorization, privacy and review rules, then life after launch. It does not cover paid ads, cold outreach, or building a generic API — only the decision, listing and upkeep of platform distribution where another company's store does the discovery for you.

What you'll do, step by stepFree preview

5 phases · 19 steps

Only a sample is open: 3 of 19 steps can be read in full. The rest unlock when you buy.

Phase 1: Qualify the job and the shelves worth using
5 steps
Phase 2: Prepare accounts and build a maintainable integration
4 steps
Phase 3: Assemble the listing and submit for review
3 steps
Phase 4: Track review and publish only after approval
3 steps
Phase 5: Keep the listing alive and cap platform risk
4 steps

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Details

Estimated duration23 hours 30 min

Steps19

Estimated budgetUSD 0–500 for store registration, assets and test tooling; platforms take

What you need first

A live product with at least a few real users you can ask where they work, access to product telemetry or CRM records, ability to create developer/publisher accounts, and capacity to build and support an integration for months after launch