A list you never talk to goes cold by launch day. Put in your days to launch and see exactly which emails go out, and when... a handful, spaced out, not 60.
The welcome goes the moment someone joins, forever, so it is not really on the runway. It is the one email every person on your list reads.
The warm-ups are spaced by the gap you set and stop 5 days before launch, so the countdown has room. They alternate between a story (why you started, what happened this week, the build) and something useful to your customer even if they never buy.
The countdown is always 3: three days out, the day before, and the day. Short, one link, the bonus restated.
What this does not include: texts. Those come after launch, with their own permission, and they are the alarm, not the story.
How many people does the list need? The Launch Day List. Building the posts that feed it? The Content Multiplier.