Do you recommend having a soft launch before launching your product on PH?

Launching product in PH definitely doesn't need to be your initial launch! In fact, most sources say that you get better launch, when you're done some smaller launches elsewhere, and gained your initial users and crowd to support you. There are plenty of guides and check lists online that gives insight, for example this here: https://www.growthmentor.com/blo... So do your soft launch for friends and family, get feedback, prepare your launch for PH, or maybe even do some launch in other medium before PH, and then plan & execute big thing in PH. All in all, there ain't any single truth how launching should be done.