Hi all! I’m prepping a Product Hunt launch for v2 of ProductLens (AI-powered demo automation for SaaS sales teams). For those of you who’ve launched on PH before — what’s been the most effective way to drive early traction? I launched a beta back in August but didn’t see much traction. Hoping to make this v2 launch stronger and would really appreciate any tips you can share 🙏
i feel prioritizing so much on a PH launch is a vanity metric. with that said, hitting the top has become a mafia now. there are a bunch of agencies, consultants you can find on the internet who can help to get to the top
I agree with Anirudh M., prioritizing the development of a steady and reliable stream of potential users is key. Platforms like Product Hunt can serve as supplementary channels to boost your brand visibility. In our case, we leveraged Product Hunt for initial exposure, but our main strategies for driving inbound sales are targeted social media advertising and maintaining a robust outbound sales pipeline.
Thanks Anirudh M. and Brian Prokopowich! Totally hear you that PH isn't alone a silver bullet. I've been experimenting with other channels - Meta hasn't worked well so far, so I'm shifting focus toward outbound to my ICP and LinkedIn to build more consistent traction.
Dylan M. we did a pretty good product hunt launch with our prev startup (#1 of the day & month, 2.9K upvotes) What we did:
Pick a good hunter (have audience etc)
We have started building audience on X beforehand, so if you have users, X follower etc, tell them about the launch and ask for upvote & retweets on the day.
Find ppl with audience from your users/followers to really hype it up, i don't remember the specifics but we made relationships with our top users before the launch and made sure they help hype it up
Ask your best users to post a good review
Apart from the launch itself > make sure the post, assets, etc is good,
and also check/improve your onboarding flow to make sure ppl who sign up on that day can get to AHA moment fast. A lot of ppl just want to try, so without a great flow they probably wont stay around long enough to figure things out.
note: this was 2021. idk if this has changed. I also hear another tactic of just keep on launching on PH without making it a big deal. Have not tried that. We were trying to get to the top for our PH launch. Also, since you're shifting to focus on outbound on LinkedIn, I'm building a tool for LinkedIn outbound motion right now. Would love to chat!
Hi Putri K., this is great - thanks for sharing! Really smart approach, especially the pre-launch relationship building with power users. That's exactly what we're missing. Quick question: When you mention "Find ppl with audience from your users/followers" - were you reaching out to your existing users to become launch advocates, or finding new people who had audiences in your target market? Also loving the insight about onboarding flow optimization. I've been working on onboarding 'tours', help content, etc. Re: LinkedIn outbound tool - I'm definitely interested! We're shifting focus there too. Would love to chat about what you're building when you're ready to share more.
Find ppl with audience from your users/followers
we are reaching out to existing users. For us we were targeting notion people, and we had a big notion creator as a user. But also from there we know who else are big notion creators and also notion community leaders and reach out to them. We did podcasts with communities too which helps get the word out and also build relationship with the community leaders so then they would also help boost our launch
Re: LinkedIn outbound tool - I'm definitely interested! We're shifting focus there too. Would love to chat about what you're building when you're ready to share more.
perfect, DM-ed you 🙂
hey Dylan M. were #1 product of the day, week & month here're my recommendations:
plan ahead + warmup the audience on X, Linkedin
get early reviews from your customers as soon as you're live, it will help you with a snowball effect
create a lot of content + engage with people during the day
create Google Sheet with to-do list planned by hour, so it keeps you focused during the day
first 3 hours are the most important ones, take into account time and timezones
good onboarding flow + sequences to nurture leads
ask people to repost your launch - don't be shy to ask for support
share it in the communities with your ideal customers
check out Lenny's checklist - it's the most helpful source you'll find https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-successfully-launch-on-product
Hi Anastasia L., this is gold! Thanks for sharing such a detailed playbook - will be super useful as I prep for my next launch.
