First Product Hunt launch? Here's how to rank at the top organically

For any start-up, your first Product Hunt launch is extremely special. You’re opening yourself up to feedback from people who haven’t been in it with you from the start. It can be daunting and exciting at the same time.

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At Hexus, we launched for the first time a month ago. We understand the jitters.

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We’re here to break our process down step by step and what led us to rank #3 organically. You’ll have a handy guide so you no longer have to wonder how to launch successfully on Product Hunt!

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Why Product Hunt

Hexus is an all-in-one AI platform that enables you to create product demos, videos, how-to-guides and more in minutes. Marketing, Customer Success, Sales, Product teams, and founders use Hexus to showcase the value of their product to their prospects and customers to support product launches, customer onboarding and even buyer evaluation. Our platform can be used by a company of any stage and size.

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Given that Product Hunt attracts Marketing & Product Operators, and start-up founders, Product Hunt is a great fit for us. Since we are new to the market, we knew that this launch would drive us traffic and sign-ups, and more importantly, feedback from the market.

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TL;DR: When you are thinking about your launch, take these factors into account:

Who is your ideal customer profile?
Are they present and active on Product Hunt?
What company stage and size is most appropriate for your product?
Is your product self-serve, easy to get onboarded to and use?

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When to launch and goal-setting

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Here’s the thing. You’ll never feel ready to launch.

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If you listen to the panel from our pre-launch event, Elaine Zelby, CRO of Tofu and Rajiv Ayyangar, CEO of Product Hunt, agree. But deciding to launch at least helps you map out a product that is usable even though it is barebones, get feedback, and attract early adopters who will ultimately be your champions in later stages of product growth.

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*Sakshi Pratap, CEO of Hexus, moderating a GTM panel of industry experts in San Francisco*

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For us, a minimum viable product meant fully functional screen recording and editing, design and styling, and AI-powered conversion into multiple layouts & templates. We knew that our current product distinguished us from the interactive demo and video market enough.

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When building your product roadmap for the launch, it might be helpful to think about your customer’s biggest problem currently not being met by competitors and alternatives. A product that is truly valuable will perform well anywhere.

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Our goal of launching on Product Hunt was to generate brand awareness, drive traffic to our website, and get sign-ups from the right ICP & feedback. So, we decided to cast a wide net and launch on a Thursday which is historically shown to be a high engagement day. If your goal is more about ranking high on Product Hunt for the badge, you might want to consider the weekend since the competition is low.

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TL;DR: before launching, think about these questions:

How do I research what my customers need and what my competitors have?
From this research, what is my customer’s most pressing and urgent pain point?
How do competitors solve this problem and how can I make it easier to solve?
Does my product as it is now solve this pain point? If not, what features does it need before launch?
Do I want to generate awareness or interest from the launch?

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The Build-Up To Our Product Hunt Launch

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We were quite active in the Product Hunt and Founder communities even before we had decided to launch.

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This was what unlocked our success. We were in multiple Product Hunt LinkedIn groups supporting other founders, interacting regularly with Product Hunt launches, talking to MANY early-stage founders, and in general, observing the community.

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We hosted an in-person panel pre-launch and invited Rajiv Ayyangar, CEO of Product Hunt to join. He spoke alongside industry leaders from top start-ups on go-to-market tips for early stage start-ups. Watch the full recording here.

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He then challenged us to compete with Kraftful for upvotes timed with the end of Olympics 2024, we knew a full-fledged fitness challenge on X was the answer. Yana’s willingness to go along with our craziness was definitely a highlight of our launch.

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We also wanted to make sure the Product Hunt traffic immediately sees that the value of our platform is not just speed and ease of creation, but a hint of magic with personalization. We made sure to curate the experience for those who land from Product Hunt with a product demo featuring the PH kitty. We received so much love for this small addition to our campaign, even outside of Product Hunt (yes, we made it to Reddit)!

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TL;DR: when making your marketing plan, go beyond the ‘hygiene’ and engage with the community:

Join Product Hunt and founder groups and support their launches
Study what a ‘good launch’ looks like
Network, network, network
Find mutually beneficial co-marketing opportunities
Think about driving value to the community through your product that will help you stand apart day of
Make a stand-out interactive demo and landing page (Hexus can help)
Offer a discount to Product Hunt members

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Launch Day

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“Yes! All this prep and we are FINALLY here.” - all Product Hunt launchers, us included.

This doesn’t stop you from being a ball of nerves but we know your team has your back.

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On the day of our launch, our teammates were relentless. They retweeted, reposted, messaged other founders who were launching on the same day, posted across their social media, shared with groups and slack communities, and were our connection to the Product Hunt community across the web.

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What also helped us was having answers to frequently asked questions ready so we could be as interactive as possible. We also took a lot of feedback about our marketing assets and updated them immediately.

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Towards the end of the day when activity was dying down and we were neck-and-neck with our competitors at Kraftful, another startup, Helicone, swooped in at the last moment.

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At Hexus, we are nothing if not adaptable. Our team built and shipped out a brand new feature that roasted product hunt launches and we announced a friendly competition with Helicone alongside Kraftful on X.

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TL;DR: stay vigilant on launch day:

Have a plan of action going into launch day with your team members because they will be working just as hard as you to get those upvotes!
Make a list of channels apart from Product Hunt for official announcements. This could be LinkedIn, slack communities, blogs such as Indie Hackers, and so on.
Schedule your first comment as maker so it goes live at the same time as your product does.
Have thank you notes and answers to commonly asked questions ready as well. There will be a lot of comments on your launch page so it’s important to ensure that anyone who is reading knows you are connecting with the audience.
Adjust to any surprises on the day and brainstorm creative ideas with your teammates to keep the upvotes momentum high throughout the day.

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The Launch Feedback

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With Product Hunt, you can be sure of one thing: you’ll get feedback—truckloads of it.

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Hexus came in as Product of the Day #3 and got so much feedback. We are still collecting to this day.

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We had 150+ people sign up to use our product without a meeting request. This number proves how much self-serve is on the rise now.

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We leveraged this inertia with a Product Hunt partnership so that now anyone who is launching on the platform can make and add their Hexus demos on their launch page.

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The most impactful period for your business is post-launch. After all the buzz has been generated, the way you nurture your leads and opportunities makes or breaks your campaign.

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TL;DR: strategize a good post-launch plan:

Take advantage of any opportunities and low-hanging fruit you see as a result of your launch
Analyze all the feedback you get, find patterns, and plan out those features in your product roadmap
Use the post-launch sign-ups and meetings to find your product-market fit. Think about which audience you resonated with so much that they are now fans of the product!

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