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5th place in Product Hunt and 23 customers in 72 hours - Long story short

Hey IH 👋🏻 I’ve been working on VenturesList 2.0 for 3 weeks. I launched a Product Hunt campaign last Thursday. This post aims to share some tips and experience to explain how to get into the top 10 of the day and receive 23 paying customers in the first 72 hours after launch.

What makes VenturesList special?

VenturesList is a startup investment library of over 500 essential resources including an investor directory, tools, templates, articles, buzzwords, etc.

It’s designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs navigate the fundraising journey.

I did this because I encountered many startups that unable to obtain capitals, and were often trapped by unforeseen events such as scams and legal issues. I want to help

Product Hunt Campaign Overview

In case you need a quick snapshot of key metrics, this is what VenturesList achieved:

Campaign date: 15 Oct (Thursday)

  • 24 hours ranking / upvotes: 7th place / 287
  • 48 hours ranking / upvotes: 6th place / 383
  • 72 hours ranking / upvotes: 5th place / 423
  • Traffic to website (from Product Hunt): 743
  • Product view count: 99
  • Sales: 23 / USD $667

Read further to understand my work before, during, and after the campaign.

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Before Campaign

Distribution channels

It's brutal if you knew the audience but didn't know where they were hanging out. I have set a goal to target early entrepreneurs who need to gain knowledge of venture investment.

I looked up the social media groups, accelerator programs, and communities that I participated in. I chose 18 channels for storytelling, including IH, YC startup school, Product Hunt groups, and some active Slack groups.

Building in public

I spent 27 days building VenturesList from scratch. I went through the most critical processes, such as ideation, validation, wireframe, prototype, branding, waiting list, and marketing.

Since then, I have tried to update my progress on Twitter, Makerpad, and LinkedIn every week. I will post any screenshots, such as the crappy wireframe, the brand design process. Gathering early adopters and getting people excited is very helpful.

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Content preparation

Always customize your content. To be honest, I am not good at copywriting. This is the last thing I will do even I am a full-time Head of Growth. But I tried my best to tell stories and capture the value propositions.

I start with some core content, and I will change the tone and length according to the nature of the distribution channel. Don't be a salesperson. Be the one who helps and provides insights. Write as you speak.

During the campaign

15:01 PM GMT+8

I live in Asia. Therefore, I am 15 hours ahead of Product Hunt's daily reset. It’s supposed to be my working hours or I make a long coffee break. So I choose the former. I made the first announcements on selected channels. This way I can capture people in Asia (working hours), Europe (about to start the day), and the US (people who stay up late)

I have published the campaign announcements on about 8-10 channels including my Twitter, Facebook groups, and some communities. In the first few hours, I only received about 50 votes. And I am competing with several high-quality products on the same day.

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6 hours after launch

The elevator never stops, upvotes are ticking, and people send me support. I used the downtime in the evening to create more customized content so I can distribute my products and possibly receive some feedback.

Write. Create visuals. Reply to those who sent me a message. Like a loop non-stop. I will make sure to customize each message. Some people stay up 24 hours for the PH campaign, but I decided to go to bed at 1 am. Last batch of content. ZZZZZ

Wake up, 8 hours to go

I woke up at about 7 am, so I had about 8 hours to cross the finish line. I can see that my position remains unchanged from 5th to 7th. I have been very grateful because it exceeded my expectations.

I haven't done much except thanking others and responding to queries within the last 8 hours. I was super tired, and my full-time job was very busy that day. But I was surprised because my tweet was hyping by the compound effect of my network and community.

Post campaign

Amplify

Apart from expressing my gratitude on Twitter, I didn't do much. I have received an unbelievable amount of comments, retweets, and emails from people I know and don’t. Also, my customers are happy with the product.

Next step

VenturesList comes with lifetime access, and my customers will get startup investment insights and new resources every month. I have created a huge resource library to maintain this momentum. I will also create new features based on the feedback received.

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What worked?

Your first message or tweet is really important. It gives people the first impressions about the product. Make sure you take advantage of it.

Don't be a salesperson. Actively ask for feedback. Before publishing in groups, make sure you understand the rules.

Use tracking links. I used the usual combination: UTM and Bitly. This way I can basically understand the traffic source and performance of each channel.

I'm writing another post to summarize how I grow from $0 to $1.2k sales in 3 weeks. Would be awesome to hear your feedback on VenturesList

Happy indie!

  1. 2

    Congrats Felix. Always adore your build in public, give-first mentality. We are so lucky to have you :)

    1. 1

      Welcome @Janel - Hopefully I am not too late to the party. I just discovered your SaaS Investing Digest, would love to feature on the next VenturesList update :)

      1. 1

        That would be super awesome! Thanks.

  2. 2

    Happy to see hard work paying off, good job! :)

    1. 2

      We're getting there :) Thanks for your support my friend!

  3. 1

    Good job Felix!
    Thanks for sharing your feedback !

  4. 1

    Congrats man! What are the PH groups you were talking about?

    1. 1

      It’s a PH group within the Techstars network @ishfillet

  5. 1

    Congratulations! 🎉

    Appreciate the detailed breakdown Felix! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

    1. 1

      No problem my friend :) Is there anything you wish to know in details? @RichAwo

      1. 1

        Yeah, not specifically about the launch but will reach out shortly!

        1. 2

          Sure thing. My Twitter DM is open :)

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