One month on Product Hunt: I'm earning trust here before I launch. How are you doing it?
I joined Product Hunt in September, so it has been a little over a month. I was looking for a place to be active when launching products in English-speaking markets, and while I knew the name, I had never actually used it.
I have bought over 200 products on AppSumo, and some of them showed their Product Hunt ranking. That's how I knew of it.
For the past month I've been watching the products that launch here and the people who are active in the forums. From what I can see, there are a few ways to make a launch go well:
1. Promote outside and bring people to PH
2. Be active inside PH and earn trust
3. Get support from a well-known Hunter
Most early founders don't have a big social following or a large newsletter list. People in Japan know me to some extent, but in the English-speaking world I am a complete unknown.
So, to be honest, I'm taking route 2.
Having a well-known Hunter back you would be an honor. But I don't like pitching myself, so I have held back. I once read a Hunter say they get several requests every day. In their shoes, I would probably skip a plain pitch too. If a product really has value, I think they would reach out on their own.
How are you all being active on PH?
Replies
Building relationships before launching sounds like a smart move. I think people are more likely to support a product when they’ve already had meaningful conversations with its maker.
@elsie_ramsey the hunter part is interesting, but I don’t think a big name can replace a strong product. For me, credibility comes from how well you understand the people you’re building for.
@elsie_ramsey @calebzhu Agree with you, Caleb. That's also why I'd rather not pitch a Hunter. If the product is strong, the right people will notice it. And I only build things I use myself, which is how I try to understand the people I'm building for.
@elsie_ramsey Thanks, Elsie. That's what I'm hoping for too. I'd rather people know who I am before they ever see the product.
Honestly, I’d focus on being helpful first rather than promoting anything. My experience is that genuine interactions make it easier to build trust over time
@joshroberts There’s real value in supporting other makers before asking for support. I think that approach helps me build relationships that feel natural rather than transactional.
@joshroberts @benjagil Agreed. Meeting @busmark_w_nika and @adana here in my first weeks was one of the best parts of joining, and none of it felt like a transaction.
@joshroberts @benjagil @adana @hisashispace That is so kind of you! :) thankyou :)
@joshroberts @benjagil @busmark_w_nika @hisashispace thanks for your warm words =)
@joshroberts Agreed. When I joined I noticed some people are here only to promote, and others want to give back to the community. I want to be in the second group. Thanks, Josh ☺️
one month is a good start, especially when you’re learning how the community works. I’d rather build a few real connections than chase attention from hundreds of people.
@ludovica_eleazer A few real connections over hundreds of passing ones, that's exactly how it has felt this first month. Thanks for saying it so clearly.
Being direct about where the tools break earns far more trust than polished updates. Mid-task, the coding agent lost earlier context and rebuilt a helper that already existed two files away under a different name. Tracking down that duplicate meant inspecting git diffs for renamed logic.
@konstantin_tikhaev Agreed, being upfront about where things break earns more trust than a polished update. A duplicate helper two files away under a different name is a nasty one to track down.
@hisashispace Making the agent search existing exports before it writes any new utility catches most of that drift before it hits git.
Launch day gets most of the attention, but the relationships built beforehand matter to me just as much. I believe consistent participation can make the whole experience more more meaningful.
@pedrogimenes Same here. Launch day is one day, but the people you meet before it stay around. Thanks, Pedro.
one thing I'd add to the "be active" advice - makers can tell the difference between someone leaving a comment on every launch and someone who actually read the thing. a generic "congrats, looks great!" on 50 launches builds way less trust than 5 comments that show you used the product or poked a real hole in it. volume isn't really the lever, specificity is. if your month of activity has mostly been the second kind, you're probably further along on trust than the "one month in" framing suggests.
@galdayan Agreed, Gal. This past month I've actually focused more on talking in the forums than on watching launches. I was really curious who's here: which countries, what backgrounds, and why they joined. When I trade comments with someone, I often go look at their LinkedIn or X to get a sense of who they are. It's way less than meeting in person, of course, but a surprising number of the people I looked up live outside the US. Not sure if that's just chance or if PH really has that global a crowd.
@hisashispace that global spread is the part I didn't expect either when I started doing the same lookup. the thing I've noticed is it changes the questions people ask more than where they're from - someone building for a market with spotty payment rails or a different regulatory setup asks a completely different question than the US-default framing most launches get. does looking someone up ever change the comment you were about to leave, or is it mostly just context you keep in your head after the fact?
Similar story my side (lol including buying hundreds of products on Appsumo).
My network is mainly in physical manufacturing not software so after investing in a few startups over the years that did a product hunt launch, figured I would check PH out myself to get a feel for it in case I do a software product launch in future. I've been pleasantly surprised at the quality of convo in the forums.
@chrisdevsz On the quality, I think a big part of it is how strict the review is when you start a thread. I've tried more than 10 times so far, and at first my posts kept getting rejected, which honestly threw me 😅 I feel like I've started to get the rules lately. Seems like plenty of people get confused the same way, so you end up thinking hard before you post a question, and I guess that's why the convos are good. Normally if asking a question was that hard, people would just leave. Somehow that doesn't happen here, which is pretty amazing about PH.
Same approach here. What has worked for me is answering threads where I actually run the thing being asked about, and skipping the ones where I would just be agreeing. One specific answer from experience gets remembered. Ten replies that say "nice point" do not. I also keep my profile honest about what I build, so nobody has to guess why I am here. Trust comes from people seeing you be useful when there is nothing to sell.