Nika

Dos and don'ts before the Product Hunt launch

It’s almost here for me. In three days, I’ll be relaunching a major update for the app I have been collaborating with, and I’ve set clear boundaries for myself about what I will and won’t do before the launch. I guess these are some general, unwritten rules I try to follow…

❌ Definitely DON’T:

  • Accept offers from charlatans promising votes or engagement for money

  • Send unsolicited messages begging for votes or support

  • Spam other people’s posts with launch announcements

✅ Definitely DO:

  • Politely ask in advance via messages if it’s okay to request support on launch day. If they say no, or don’t respond, don’t spam them = consent is everything

  • Communicate about your launch on your own social profiles (especially effective if you’ve been building a community beforehand)

  • Give honest feedback and try out products that interest you – it puts your face out there in a meaningful way

  • Use internal company channels to announce the launch (e.g., include it in a newsletter, get support from coworkers in Slack, etc.)

Of course, this list could be longer, so you can help with this part too. 😄

Do you have your own personal rules for what to do – or not do – before a launch?

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Neil Gerstenberg

Thanks for the advice! Looking forward to our first ever launch on Product Hunt later today :)

Nika

@neilgerstenberg Is it live already?

Neil Gerstenberg

@busmark_w_nika Yes we're live :-) Been having some issues with various ad platforms though... should be fixed soon! And sorry for taking so long to respond - my profile was restricted :/

Nika

@neilgerstenberg Oh, sorry to hear that. What happened with your profile?

Neil Gerstenberg

@busmark_w_nika I'm new here and didn't know the rules about pro/personal... I do now :-)

Arjun Manohar

Honestly, I wish I read this post before. We launched something to limited visibility. I reckon my expectations were not in par with my social cache or platform knowledge. But that is okay, there is more to come and much more to learn! Looking forward to your launch.

Nika

@mrarjunmanohar No worries, you can return and re-launch next time ;)