Launched on Product Hunt today — here's how it actually went

Update on qr-api (the QR code generation API I built and shared here recently).

Launched on Product Hunt today. Current standing: #265, 2 points. Not exactly a breakout launch, but I wanted to share honestly rather than only posting when things look good.

A few things I'm taking away from today:

- Without an existing audience/following, PH ranking is really hard to move — early velocity in the first hour or two seems to matter more than I expected

- No Stripe activity yet either, which stings a little after all the work, but I know one quiet launch day isn't the final verdict on whether this is worth continuing

- I did pick up a few followers on the PH listing itself, so there's at least some passive discovery happening

What I'm doing next instead of chasing PH ranking further:

- Looking into API-specific directories (RapidAPI, etc.) for longer-term, higher-intent discovery

- Writing up the actual build story as a blog post/dev.to article, since I think "zero coding experience to live paid API" might resonate with people earlier in this journey than me

- Reaching out directly to a few people/communities who might actually need something like this, rather than relying on cold discovery

If anyone's been through a similarly quiet launch and found what actually worked afterward, I'd genuinely love to hear it. Feels like the building part, chaotic as it was, was almost the easier half.