The shutdown post is the hardest copy you’ll write

By Ankita Sontakke

Nobody rehearses it. Everybody reads it.

The shutdown post is the hardest copy you’ll write

I’ve now written the closing announcements for two products. Both times the draft that got approved was the plainest one: what’s ending, when, what happens to your money or data, who to email. No gratitude paragraph at the top. People scroll past gratitude to find out if they’re affected. Put that first.

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If enough people nudge me, I will start one. Essays on launching AI products, the systems underneath them, and what actually happened.