Product Hunt is a place where I enjoy hanging out.
I've contributed to launching 42 dev tools there in the last 2 years — or maybe 55? To be honest, I've lost count. People often reach out for support, and I'm always happy to help.
Below are some answers to frequently asked questions.
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- Is Product Hunt the right place to launch developer tools?
- How to launch a developer tool on Product Hunt successfully?
- What do I need to launch a developer tool on Product Hunt?
- Do I need a Hunter?
- When to launch on Product Hunt?
- How to engage my network and community before the launch?
- How to keep momentum after launch?
is Product Hunt the right place to launch developer tools?
Yes. Product Hunt definitely is a great place to launch — a place where many developer-first products launched successfully: Supabase, Resend, and Warp, to name a few.
According to similarweb.com, it gets 4.8 million unique visitors every month, and according to Ahrefs, it has a domain rating of 91.
Product Hunt helps raise awareness, get feedback, and enable early traction.
how to launch a developer tool on Product Hunt successfully?
There's no secret sauce.
When I launched Specify, we planned weeks ahead and launched on a weekday — we thought it would maximize exposure. We ranked #2 Product of the Day and #9 Product of the Week. We hit 2.5K unique visitors.
When I launched Documenso, the opposite happened. We had no plan and launched during the weekend. We ranked #1 Product of the Day and #9 Product of the Week. We hit 2.5K unique visitors, too.
Two different launches, same results.
Keep it simple, and enjoy your launch day.
what do I need to launch a developer tool on Product Hunt?
Below are the required inputs to submit a new product on Product Hunt. You can find them here on GitHub to get started.
- Name of the product: simply the name of your product in 40 characters or less
- Tagline: a concise and descriptive tagline in 60 characters max; avoid hyperbolic words and emojis — keep it simple
-
Description: a short description of what the product does in less than 260 characters; supports basic HTML:
<strong>,<em>,<a>,<li> - First comment: tells the story, explains why you’re building the product, and invites people to join the conversation
- Thumbnail: a 240 x 240 pixel thumbnail
- Image gallery: 2 to 8 images to show your product; avoid stock images and marketing fluff. Show the product, i.e. product screenshots. You can add social proof and a call-to-action to inspire action. The first image is used as the social preview when you share the link to your launch page.
do I need a Hunter?
By default, the answer is no. According to Product Hunt, using a Hunter isn't a barrier to success:
- 79% of featured posts were by makers who self-hunted
- 60% of #1 Product of the Day winners were self-hunted
If finding a Hunter isn't a requirement per se, you may need one for three main reasons:
- a Hunter reviews your inputs, gives feedback, and suggests improvements
- on launch day, a Hunter can support by upvoting and replying to comments
- a Hunter can leverage networks by promoting your launch on socials
When done right, a Hunter is a catalyst for your launch.
when to launch on Product Hunt?
It depends on your objective.
According to hunted.space, Product Hunt has the highest traffic/visibility on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Highest visibility, highest competition.
how to engage my network and community before the launch?
Get creative! Below is a non-exhaustive list of ideas to get started:
- Create a Coming Soon page
- Add your upcoming launch on hunted.space
- Schedule as much content as possible: social posts, website banner, email campaigns
- Host an AMA session — see this example by Supabase
- Support other product launches
Pro tip: use a URL shortener like Dub as a backdoor edit button.
- Create your short, memorable URL
- Link it to your Coming Soon page, e.g.
/products/{yourProduct} - Update it on launch day, e.g.
/posts/{yourProduct}
In this file, I suggest more ideas to leverage your community:
- List some key elements to play and mix
- Include links to posts and comments for inspiration
how to keep momentum going after launch?
There are two more things to keep the momentum going:
- Maximize efforts
- Keep launching
Maximize efforts
With the assets you've worked on for your Product Hunt launch, you can maximize efforts by launching on more places, like Hacker News and Dev Hunt, an open-source alternative for dev-first products.
Launch early, launch often
Launching on Product Hunt isn't a one-time opportunity. Launch early, launch often.
You can launch multiple times.
According to Product Hunt, you have to "wait at least six months in between posts for the same product or from the same company. Along with a six-month period, there also needs to be a significant update to the product."
Product Hunt pays off in the long term, where the best teams keep launching.
Take Stripe. The company launched 68 times on Product Hunt in the last 10 years. Supabase launched 12 times in the last 4 years. Raycast has launched 11 products since 2020.
Launching multiple times creates a tailwind. — Repost this
Keep launching.
wrapping up
That’s a wrap!
If you enjoyed the read and learned something, please add some ❤️🦄🤯🙌🔥 and follow me @fmerian on X for more insights and best practices on Product Hunt.
For further inspiration, below are some references and resources:
- Launching on Product Hunt: a 6-part series on launching developer tools on Product Hunt
- awesome-product-hunt: a collection of great dev-first product launches
- product-hunt-launch-kit.md: required inputs to submit a new product on Product Hunt
- product-hunt-community-kit.md: ideas to leverage your network
Are you planning to launch on Product Hunt? Keep me posted
Enjoy your launch!
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