A featured snippet is a short answer that Google shows in a box at the top of some search results, quoted from one page, with a link to it.
Snippets tend to come from pages that answer a question directly and concisely near the top, often as a short paragraph, list or table.
Google chooses them automatically; there's no setting to request one.
Why it matters for a launch
Writing clear, direct answers helps for snippets and for AI answers alike, since both quote pages that get to the point.