What would you do differently if you launched on Product Hunt again?
After launch day, something interesting happens. You start seeing clearly all the things you should have done before it.
The most common regrets I hear:
– skipping the outreach entirely
– launching without a real pre-launch preparation
– not activating the existing audience early enough
– not spending enough time polishing the landing page
– not building an email sequence for the launch day and hoping the algorithm does the work
Preparation is everything. The founders who win on Product Hunt don't just show up on launch day. Тhey spend weeks building the conditions for a strong result. Ideally 2-4 weeks before the launch.
The launch itself is 20% of the work. The other 80% happens before and after.
What would you do differently if you could launch again and what did you learn the hard way?
Replies
Sweat hard in training, bleed less in battle. Prep thoroughly so launch day sparks joy, not jitters.
@rohanrecommends Good prep today, great launch tomorrow.
Always
BrandingStudio.ai
Launched brandingstudio.ai four days ago, and this thread is basically my post-mortem in real time.
What I'd do differently: activate the waitlist earlier and harder. I had ~50 beta testers but didn't mobilise them as a coordinated launch day asset. Some voted, most didn't, most didn't even know what PH was. That's on me for not building the habit loop early enough.
The landing page point hits home too. I kept tweaking the product until two days before launch and the page suffered for it. The copy was good but the social proof was thin because I was too focused on shipping.
Your "80% before and after" framing is exactly right and the "after" part is what most people abandon too quickly. We ended up at #6, which I'm genuinely happy with, but the real work now is converting the traffic that came in and keeping the momentum going in the weeks after. That part gets almost no attention compared to launch day prep.
@joao_seabra Hey, Joao. 6th place is actually a great launch. I’m sure you should be proud of your performance.
And I’m confident that with these lessons, your next launch will be even more successful.
@joao_seabra What really stands out to me is the after part. Everyone talks about pre-launch prep, but it feels like the weeks right after matter just as much, since that’s when the people who upvoted decide whether they’ll actually stick around. I’m glad to know that ahead of time so it doesn’t take me by surprise.
We launched two days ago and this resonated deeply.
Our biggest takeaway wasn't about prep, it was about audience fit. We work with enterprise manufacturers, and honestly, most of them have never been on Product Hunt. So when our genuine fans showed up to vote, their votes didn't count because they weren't established on the platform.
No fault of the people who built it, but it does make PH feel more like an insider game than an open stage for new products. We came in authentically and felt a little penalized for it.
Curious if others in B2B / enterprise have run into the same wall.
@eva_shivers Eva, I’m sorry to hear that. The truth is that many founders miss this when preparing for their launch. They don’t do the warm-up. What I mean is that the people who are supposed to support you during the launch should ideally already be regular users of the platform.
It might sound a bit inaccurate (because it depends on the country), but it’s somewhat like citizens of one country being able to vote in another country. Of course, if you’ve lived there for a certain period of time, then you can vote. It’s a bit limiting, but it still prevents situations where you bring in 10,000 people who have never heard of the platform and suddenly vote.
That’s also why it’s important to connect with other active users on Product Hunt. Their votes are much more valuable than those of new users. And at the same time, you find genuine supporters of your product.
@byalexai Thank you for your thoughts and experience!
minimalist phone: creating folders
When it comes to me, I tried all the above, but would invest more into each item.
There was one thing I would improve: the landing page – but this was a part for our developers, and they didn't take my request into account because the team consists of 2 people who primarily focus on app development... so... 🤷♀️
@busmark_w_nika Oh yes! I completely agree with that. It’s actually quite underestimated by some teams, but it makes a huge difference. But when the team is small, it can also create quite a few challenges.
I've been on Product Hunt since 2020, but only started building last year.
I had no clue how much preparation was needed before the actual launch of a product. Now I've started to get used to the prep part - I'm always the person who is pushing back on early launch dates, advocating for more time to ensure we tick everything you mentioned above.
If I were to launch my first product again, I would prioritize the outreach part, as this was the main thing I underestimated back then.
@ruxandra_mazilu Oh yeah. When you’re doing it for the first time, you honestly have no idea how much time you’ll need. And there are almost always delays on the development/production side.
As for outreach, I’d say it’s better to treat it as a daily habit - 15–30–45 minutes a day connecting with people who share similar interests and just having conversations. A lot of founders try to skip this part, but without it, it’s almost impossible. People need to know about your product. About your launch. If you stay quiet, no one will ever hear about it.
So when are you planning to launch?
I agree, everyone I've worked with runs away from this part, me included 😆 but I like how you framed it, it might be easier to get into it if it's a daily habit with a small, reachable goal of 30 minutes ish allocated to this part.
I've just launched this week, and I've yet again been reminded about the importance of outreach 😅
TBH, I haven't launched yet. But I do have a thought on this.
Most founders treat launch day as the finish line. The ones who get the most out of PH keep the momentum going by following up with commenters, turning feedback into visible updates, and staying active in the community beyond day one.
The algorithm rewards recency, but so do people. Showing up after the noise dies down is where a lot of lasting connections actually form.