We were #1 on Product Hunt for 18 hours, then lost it in the final 5.

Launched PlugThis (AI that builds Chrome extensions from plain English) on Product Hunt last week. Held #1 for 18 hours, lost it in the final five, finished #3 Product of the Day.

The Stats:

• 558 upvotes, 122 comments
• 2,100 site visits from 97 countries
• Average visit: over 5 minutes
• 540 signups
• 36 paying customers in week one
• One Product Hunt newsletter mention

What we did that worked:

1. Two weeks of prep on the listing and video alone. Iterated on 10+ taglines and ended up with: "Like Lovable, but for Chrome extensions."

2. Found our hunter through a referral.

3. Before launch day, I messaged every friend and early user and got a verbal yes: "will you upvote when it goes live?" Not "please support us." A direct question got a commitment. People keep promises.

4. Replied to all 122 comments within 2 to 3 minutes each. I was online 20 of the 24 hours. Reply speed is the ranking algorithm nobody admits exists.

5. The forum play: Product Hunt gives every product a forum and almost nobody uses it. My team mate ran a thread offering to break down anyone's extension idea in detail (structure, permissions, tricky parts). Free consulting in public. When we hit #1 I ran a second thread asking users to show what they built with their free builds that day. Live social proof, generated by the community, on launch day.

What we got wrong:

We held #1 for 18 hours and lost it in the last 5. I planned my energy for the start of the day. The end mattered more. For next launch, the final hours is where I would spend more energy

The honest takeaway:

It was completely worth it, got a ton of users 660 to be specific, and we are still getting traffic and about 50 paying customers. Got ourselves a nice badge too :)

If you have questions please comment. If you need to me review your listing, please connect.

If anyone wants to see the product: https://plugthis.ai/?utm_source=indiehackers&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=launch-story