2 days from Product Hunt launch — here are the real numbers so far
been building IdeaDose for the past few months — an AI tool that evaluates startup ideas and gives a GO/RISKY/KILL verdict. not the "great idea!" kind of validation. the honest kind.
launching on Product Hunt this Thursday (March 26). here's where things actually stand:
the numbers
- 84 unique visitors last week (116 sessions)
- 19 signups (12% conversion from landing)
- traffic sources: 55% direct, 13% Threads, 13% X, 7% Google
- 83 dead clicks on the landing page (ux issues i'm still fixing)
- bounce rate spiked to 92% on one day — killed email verification, switched to oauth only
what i learned building this
- tested 15+ competitor tools. most gave a terrible idea 78/100. nobody wants to be the bad guy
- built kill criteria (K1-K5) as deterministic logic, not AI opinion — so the verdict is consistent
- every claim in the report links back to real data (reddit threads, github stars, pricing pages)
- cut 3 features last week that nobody asked for (team collab, pdf export, saved comparisons)
what i'm nervous about
- "just ask chatgpt" is the real competitor, not the other validators
- 84 visitors in a week is not a lot. distribution is the hard part
- first-time PH launcher. no idea what to expect
if you've launched on PH before — what actually moved the needle on launch day? genuine comments, social posts, DMs to friends?
ideadose.dev if you want to check it out. will report back with PH results next week regardless of how it goes.
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you named the real competitor yourself. "just ask chatgpt" kills most idea validators because people already trust the conversation format. the deterministic kill criteria (K1-K5) is the only defensible angle you have, but only if founders actually change their behavior after getting a KILL verdict. do you have any data on that? like how many users who got KILL actually stopped working on the idea vs just trying again with different inputs until they got GO?
This is super helpful — appreciate you sharing real numbers (not just “we launched and it went great”).
One thing that always stands out to me with PH launches is how consistent the pattern is:
Lots of traffic
Solid signups
But relatively low conversion to paid
Curious — looking at your numbers so far, do you feel like:
A) The traffic quality isn’t quite your ICP
or
B) The value prop just needs to be clearer on first visit?
I’m prepping for a launch soon myself, and trying to think of PH more as:
“top-of-funnel + credibility”
rather than expecting it to drive revenue directly.
Would love to hear what you’re seeing so far and what you’d do differently with 2–3 days left before launch.
biggest thing I’d double check before launch: can someone understand what you do in 5 seconds? PH traffic is brutal — if it’s not instantly clear, people bounce fast