Terms to know

• Makers = People who make products
• To "hunt" = To post a product on Product Hunt

Product Hunt

This module walks you through launching a product on Product Hunt.

Understanding how Product Hunt works is important because you have one shot: You won't be allowed to post the same product again for 6 months — and only for total redesigns. No redos.

So, we interviewed 14 of the most successful hunters and makers. We cross-checked their advice and got to the bottom of hitting Product Hunt's front page.

Why should you care about Product Hunt?

Many household names got their start on Product Hunt: Robinhood, Gimlet, and Houseparty—to name a few.

PH has proven itself the most effective place to launch and discover startups.

Think of PH as Reddit for product launches, but with a more kind community:

1. Makers or Hunters post their products to Product Hunt.
2. Members of the PH community upvote their favorite products and leave comments.
3. Products with a high quantity and quality of upvotes rise to the top and generate thousands of website visits.

What we learned in our research is that there is a right way to do it. It's not the gamble that getting on TechCrunch or hitting the front page of Hacker News is.

Let's explore the PH methodology we've uncovered.

Topics we'll cover

• How Product Hunt actually works
• How it compares to other channels
• Launch myths busted
• Most effective pre-launch strategies
• How to convert website visits into customers

Here’s where it gets interesting

Product Hunt is a place where you launch products to an audience actively looking for new and exciting products to try.

That should make marketers' alarms go off.

Early adopters get products off the ground. They’re essential for product validation, customer development, and momentum. Not only are these adopters willing to use your product while you iron out the kinks—they actually enjoy it.

Better yet, early adopters tend to vocally share their opinions of new products with their networks.

If they like your product, they become your initial advocates.

This is the true value of Product Hunt in the customer acquisition landscape: validation and early traction. Product Hunt isn’t a growth strategy. It’s not something you iterate on and try to make profitable and sustainable. Instead, it's a high quality PR event that can help you grow a base of early adopters that build traction.

What type of traffic can you expect?

We’ve found that products that make it to the bottom of the front page can expect over 2,000 unique visitors on launch day. Products that hit the #1 spot can gain over 10,000 uniques.

While these numbers aren't exceptional, remember that conversion rates tend to be strong because Product Hunt's audience is innovation fanatics.

To put this into volume of emails, for submissions ranking in the top 5 products of the day, it’s not uncommon to get over 3,000 emails.

That can instantly make a newsletter.

When you hit the top 5, you're featured in the next day's Product Hunt digest email.