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My 3rd Product Hunt Launch: What I did different

I had one success and one dud on Product Hunt.

  1. I launched my product elsewhere first
    You really want to have your website and product tested before PH. This helped me catch a few bugs before my big launch day. I also got to test a little marketing and the video I showed of my product seemed to grab eyes.

  2. I had someone else hunt my product
    I didn't do this is the first two times, but I'm happy to try it out this time. Having a small reach is tough, so the extra reach you gain from your hunter is nice. If nothing, you have one less competitor on launch day, since my hunter would have likely hunted another product if not mine.

  3. I did more prep work
    Having someone else hunt my product meant I had to prepare all the content a month ahead of time. I already promoted it elsewhere, so I also had some other marketing material prepped.

  4. I've building my audience
    I didn't make it to the frontpage on my second launch, and realized the importance of building my audience. I started collecting emails and I have been active on Twitter. That extra boost can be what gets and keeps you on the front where you get organic upvotes. My reach is still small, but gotta keep at it.

No matter what you do, you have to appreciate there is luck at play. You don't have control over what other products launch and their audience size.

Let me know if you have questions.

You can check out my PH page here:
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/vector-pattern-generator

  1. 3

    Hey Matt, great stuff - congrats on the launch! Great point too - Creators often forget that there are many more places to post other than just launching on Product Hunt.

    We compiled a list of 150+ startup directories to post your startup and I think anyone reading your post will likely benefit from it :)

    Link: https://www.submitjuice.com/directories

    1. 1

      Thanks for sharing. Will have to take a closer look at the list after I get some sleep, but posting elsewhere is already part of the plan.

      1. 1

        Yep! Completely agreed with your first point.

  2. 3

    Cool patterns! Thanks for sharing the tips!

    1. 1

      Thanks Clyde. Of course, glad you found it helpful.

  3. 2

    Great insight! Best of luck!

  4. 2

    Really cool. Totally agree with launching it elsewhere, I didn't realize this at first. I heard "you should launch your product as soon as you can" and also "launch on Product Hunt" at the same time.

    Also love the point about one-less competitor, nice. Great work, thanks for sharing!

    1. 1

      Of course, glad you found the point to be useful. After the day has progressed, I'm pretty sure that getting hunted paid off. It helped me reach the top 10, and stay there.

  5. 2

    It's hunted by Chris. How did you ask him ? How did you do ?

    Upvoted ! And gonna use for my app and blog. And congrats 🥳

    1. 2

      Thanks Yashwanth for the support!

      Chris is pretty accessible, he has a webpage dedicated to this with guidelines and best practices: https://chrismessina.me/hunt-me

      1. 1

        Thanks Viswig I didn't know this at all. I was thinking I would have to be some pro-influencer-coder to reach him 😅

        internet is truly free and horizontal.

  6. 1

    Hi Matt, can you also write a post about what marketing material you prepared for the launch?

    1. 3

      Sure, no prob. Outside of the PH material (which included a first comment), I planned an IH post :) a twitter thread, and email to my subscribers. I don't have a regular newsletter, instead I use my list to announce big updates and launches and discounts. I feel there is more that can be done, but I don't care to spam the entire internet.

      Then I planned on not being productive during the day so I could quickly respond to replies on PH, Twitter, and IH. I feel you encourage comments when others see you are taking the time to respond.

  7. 4

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1

      Yep, I used Chris Messina who books launches a month in advance. If I didn't book today, someone else would have. Therefore, I'd be competing against Chris instead of benefiting from his network.

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