PrettyPolly

I thought I'd write this to share my preparation for our upcoming Product Hunt launch, and in case anyone had any suggestions.

I've launched products on PH before, but this is the first time I've taken a significant amount time to prepare for it. The background is that my app, PrettyPolly, did pretty well on Hacker News. It got 2 million server hits in the first week, and I've been trying to build a business off the back of that success.

Product Hunt will be the first major launch since Hacker News, so I want to maximize my chances of getting lucky.

Here's what I'm doing to get ready:

1. The day before launch, I'll engaging existing users by sending an email to 7000+ free users and 100+ paid users to tell them about the upcoming launch, and I'll send an email at 12:01 on launch day to tell them that we're live and would appreciate their support (with a link).

2. I'll post on relevant subreddits, including r/SideProject and r/webdev. I'll post on Hacker News to tell them that we're launching on Product Hunt (with a link). I'm not expecting these to garner much support, but it's worth a try.

3. I'll personally message my friends who work in tech to ask for some support, and will post in groups that I'm in with other founders.

4. I'll post on my personal social media, althought frankly I have so few followers that I can't imagine that will move the needle.

5. I'll record a professional, but friendly demo video, and will create some professional looking product images that go beyond screenshots. I'll also word-for-word draft the post itself and my initial comment introducing myself and the product a bit further.

6. I'll reply to all messages throughout the day as quickly as possible.

7. I'll offer a 10% discount for premium subscriptions for the 24 hours that we're live on Product Hunt.

That's all I'm planning so far. I know the first few hours are the most important, so I'll be frantically trying to get support in that time. I do think some of it comes down to luck, but I'm doing everything I can to increase my chances of getting lucky.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions about what else I could do for a successful launch, I'd really appreciate the input.

Thanks for reading,
Chris