Bearconnect.io: First-time SaaS founder mistake: Falling into the Product Hunt trap
I'm a first-time SaaS founder, building Bearconnect - and I’ve made more mistakes than I can count (which I now realize is totally normal).
I’m hoping to share some of those mistakes here, in case they help others avoid the same.
When I started building Bearconnect, I told myself I wouldn’t launch on Product Hunt. I had heard stories: lots of effort, very little traction, and often no “real” users.
But my dev team and our sales/growth person eventually convinced me to do it. So, I launched.
The minute I announced it on LinkedIn, I started getting DMs - people claiming they could get me “Product of the Day” or guarantee top placement.
I fell into the trap.
I paid one of them, without reading Product Hunt’s guidelines. And soon after, the same person started threatening me - asking for more money and saying if I didn’t pay, they’d report me to Product Hunt and get my listing taken down.
I had no idea what to do. So I did what many founders would do in panic: I asked ChatGPT.
ChatGPT told me to come clean and write to the Product Hunt team, explain exactly what happened, and show I was trying to make things right.
So I did.
To my surprise, they were incredibly kind and supportive. They told me to block this person everywhere and thanked me for being honest.
As soon as I did that, my upvotes dropped from ~60 to what they should have been. I realized how easy it is to get caught in fake traction.
If you’re planning to launch on PH - please don’t make the mistake I made.
Wow thats wild - thanks for sharing!
You're welcome!
That's interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Anytime!
Wow, thanks for sharing your story about launching Bearconnect on Product Hunt—it takes real courage to open up about mistakes like that, especially in a public space
Reaching out to Product Hunt and being upfront took guts, and their supportive response proves integrity pays off.
The main reason I shared this post is to help others avoid falling into the same trap.
Were you able to get PH placement organically and what is right way to do it in your opinion.
This was my first Product Hunt launch, and as I’ve mentioned - I didn’t do it right. The right way to launch is to build relationships on Product Hunt beforehand, connect with the community, and consistently talk about your upcoming launch on social media to build momentum.