Not Featured on Product Hunt: our real launch numbers and what we'd change

We launched Nimply (AI agents that draft social media replies and posts; you approve before anything goes out) on 23 Sep. Here is what the 24 hours actually looked like, with numbers, because most launch retros only show the wins.

Numbers

- 31 points, 20 comments, 5 reviews.

- Not Featured. That means the launch never appeared on the daily leaderboard at all. We only understood what that meant on the day.

- About 290 signups in the 24-hour window (175 on launch day itself). 0 paid conversions so far.

- Most signups came from our own LinkedIn and Facebook posts and from friends resharing, not from the launch page.

What worked

- Answering every comment within minutes. Almost every real question was about control ("will it post without me?"), not features. "Agents draft, you approve" did most of the work.

- Posting three knowledge threads in p/nimply the day before, so there was something to read besides the launch page.

What broke

- Our brand X account disconnected mid-morning and the last scheduled post failed. Check every token the night before.

- Within hours we had a dozen DMs offering paid upvotes, reviews and collabs. Expect them.

What we'd change

- We treated launch day as the event. Next time we spend the two weeks before it here in the forums and in the communities where our users already are, so people already know us on the day.

- Treat the launch page as a lead list, not a leaderboard. 20 thoughtful comments are 20 conversations.

If you launched without being Featured and saw something different, I would like to hear it.