I decide what's featured on the leaderboard - AMA w/ Gabe from Product Hunt
Hi everyone, Gabe here! I lead curating Product Hunt's leaderboard.
First thing I will say is that if I could feature every single product that works, I would. I love supporting makers and demoing products. I actually try to test every single thing that gets hunted every day... which is A TON. But I view our job as to surface the most interesting, novel, useful, and innovative products - daily. Now we may not always get it right, the process isn't perfect, but we're trying to do right by the community.
Hopefully, you've noticed that over the past months the quality of the leaderboard has felt really good. (Please share your thoughts!) Some of the things that I've been doing aside from testing and reviewing products is reaching out to makers to help them with their launches, provide feedback on why something may not be featurable, and help makers craft their best launch as possible. Scalable -> no. Huge impact -> I think so. I'm working with the team on how to create a more scalable version of this but for now just know I try to make myself available to you all.
Top mistakes I've seen
Product is waitlisted
People schedule a draft.... (we have a draft function!)
Maker's profile is their product/business and not an actual user account
Tagline does not describe the product ie. "Best way to earn users" vs "Capture user data with a single button in your iOS app"
Too much marketing jargon, not enough product description / story
NO PRODUCT SHOTS/VIDEOS -> just marketing fluff images
Only one image that is a low quality screenshot
Using a paid service for upvotes/hunters -> this will get you unfeatured or severely impact your launch
Some other notes to consider:
We've gotten stricter on keeping true to our Featuring Guidelines.
We highly recommend making a draft and sharing with folks to make sure it passes the "mom test" -> do they get what you're launching?
If you can quickly Google a solution that similar to what you're launching then really make sure your launch stands out. Focus on highlighting what's special about your product vs being too general.
Highly recommend having a loom or some sort of visual that showcases the start process, the end result your product produces, and what's special about your product.
Be honest, authentic, and have fun.
With all that being said, AMA! I'll try to answer as much as I can without getting fired
Replies
hi @gabe, very helpful post and discussion for a PH newbie! I'm preparing for my first launch here and was wondering, how much time do we need to take into consideration for the moderation process, from submitting your launch/product to actually getting featured? Really want to make sure that we schedule enough time for it, and can imagine is a pretty time intensive task for the team! Thank you!
Product Hunt
@joyce_kremer ideally 24hrs at minimum! The team and I make sure to review things within a minimum of 24hrs. You got this! Excited to see what you launch :)
@gabe Great, that's good to know! Another quick question, does it matter if the product we're launching has a sales-led motion in order to get it featured? It's a Shopify app for a specific small business audience, so we need to make sure the right stores are getting access the platform. Understand that having a sales-led product will limit how easy people on product hunt can actually test the product, so would be great to know the impact. Thanks!
Gabe, thank you for organizing this AMA and for the efforts you and the team put into curating the Product Hunt leaderboard. I appreciate the opportunity to ask a few questions:
1. You mentioned that using a paid service for upvotes/hunters can negatively impact a launch. I’d love to understand PH’s approach in addressing this:
a) There are LinkedIn influencers who openly sell upvotes and regularly DM makers about it. Since the PH team is aware of these individuals (as they message PH team members as well), has there been any consideration to removing their profiles to enhance the platform’s authenticity?
b) One of the users has been awarded a “Top Hunter” badge by the PH team, yet they openly promote a paid service for hunting products, as indicated on their website which is mentioned in their PH bio. This seems to contradict what you shared in your AMA post. Could you clarify how PH thinks?
2. There seems to be an algorithmic bias in favor of certain hunters. Does the PH engineering team plan to address this to ensure a more level playing field?
3. How does Product Hunt differentiate between established brands and indie makers in the curation process? Are there any specific considerations for independent makers to ensure fair visibility?
4. In 2024, Rajiv (PH’s CEO) collaborated on a post with a popular newsletter. The post featured a guest author who runs a PH agency that guarantees top leaderboard placement. Since PH discourages paid upvotes, could you clarify the reasoning behind this collaboration? Additionally, the same newsletter was advertised on PH, and its clients often work with the same “Top Hunter” known for paid hunting as mentioned in my point 1(b). Does PH favor agencies that have direct commercial relationships with the platform, the CEO, or hunters who are granted special badges by the PH team?
5. The previous version of PH provided public feedback on why a launch wasn’t featured (When Ryan moderated the leaderboard). Would it be possible to introduce templated reasons (similar to Reddit’s moderation feedback) so makers can better understand why their launch wasn’t featured and how / what they can improve for future attempts?
6. When can we expect the rollout of the green tick verification? Will this have any impact on voting or featuring criteria?
7. Occasionally, PH team members launch products that are relatively simple or redundant, yet they get featured. Is this done as an internal encouragement initiative, or are there any specific guidelines regarding PH staff launches?
8. The 2024 Golden Kitty Awards saw a higher number of winners from funded startups, products hunted by PH team and big tech companies. Will this be a trend going forward, or does PH still aim to highlight indie makers and small startups in these awards?
9. The current leadership at PH appears to favor a more condensed approach, as seen in the shorter newsletters, leaderboard with few products featured, stricter discussion post approvals, reduced Golden Kitty nomination categories, and fewer winners per category. Is this a collective team decision, or is there a particular individual driving this approach?
10. Does the engagement data from a “Coming Soon” teaser post (e.g., the number of users who click “Notify Me”) influence whether a product gets featured? Or is this step entirely optional?
11. What advice would you give to makers whose products do not get featured? Should they iterate and relaunch after six months, or are there other recommended approaches? Some makers who are launching for the first time may have genuinely missed adding relevant assets and it could be a reason for them to not get featured. However, do you expect them to wait six months to relaunch or there is something else they can do for a reattempt?
12. Some waitlisted products have been featured while others have not. If there are strict guidelines against featuring waitlisted products, could you help clarify why exceptions are sometimes made?
Thanks again for your time and transparency! Looking forward to your insights.
Product Hunt
@ragsyme thanks for all the questions, going to tackle them one at a time below.
1. The most succinct way to answer this is that we have a number of methods to track and identify launches that are paying for services. If we catch this, we try to warn you. If warnings are well received - then there's a chance to course correct. If warnings are ignored - then your launch can be impacted and at worse be unfeatured.
a) The short answer here is, it's better for us to be aware of the profiles and log it. If we remove the profiles then there's nothing stopping that user from creating a new one, and we have to re-identify.
b) We penalize people buying upvotes. If other users are helping people launch, that's okay. It's like hiring a marketing consultant. Doesn't matter who is hunting, if the product isn't fit - it won't be featured. I will say that there are hunters who have built a reputation of hunting good products and that reputation goes a long way with the community. So it also behooves folks helping others launch to play by the rules.
2. I can see how it may seem this way, but in reality hunters build a reputation by identifying and hunting good products. Just like I curate the leaderboard, I'm sure they curate and identify what they want to hunt. Overtime, the community will follow those hunters and as their followers grow, so do the pool of folks that notice when that specific community member does something on Product Hunt.
3. I look at the product first. I've rejected big brands before and have featured things like @Scroll Buddy. Just make sure your launch is clear to understand and highlights what's unique about the launch and product.
4. RE the newsletter - this may have been before my time. I try my best to keep the playing field even for all. No one should be guaranteeing top spot. If they do, it's false. Some community members are long time Product Hunt members or high contributors and I do have touch points with many of them. Whether they are running agencies, or consulting doesn't impact us. It serves them best to work with high quality products because at the end of the day my job is to help makers launch, provide them and community members feedback on their product/launches, and then curate the best possible leaderboard as possible. --- if someone is gaming the system to be first, we'll catch it. We're cracking down on this behavior even harder now. See answer #2 as well.
5. I'm very passionate about this actually! I've been doing a non-scalable feedback cycle for now and am working with our team to introduce a more scalable way that sees most launches get feedback.
6. Good question - can't comment on timing but sooner rather than later. We will experiment to see how it can benefit the community and keep everyone updated.
7. Good question! I'm def guilty of launching something simple. But i'll be straight up, I'm more strict with our team. I'll let them know, sorry mate this won't be featured here's why" in our team chat. Simple doesn't mean it's not good and often times problems require simple solutions (products).
8. Not a trend, just happened to be. @pascalpixel won maker of the year and he's pretty indie - although I know he also works with a team on different stuff. Focus on making an impact with your product, the rest will come.
9. Not 100% getting this question but I will comment that we're focusing on quality all around.
10. Going to sound like a broken record but engagement does not = featuring. If the product is unique, interesting, fun, special, different, etc... it'll be featured.
11. Good question - I would say try to relaunch when you feel like your product has a significant update from the last launch. And during your next launch try to make it very clear what you're launching and what the user can expect by using your product.
12. Waitlist products are no longer featured. If one has slipped through the cracks please let us know.
Dropboard
Thanks @gabe! I have a product that requires payment for access but has a no-questions, money-back guarantee. Our marketing is very transparent about how the product works and we have walkthrough videos and other ways to see full functionality.
Do you see a paid-only product as less "feature-able" than a freemium or free trial product?
If so, we might consider allowing anyone coming from our PH page to get a free trial for a limited time. Or if you had any other advise for pay-first products, I'd love to hear it!
Product Hunt
Hi @colinmathews! Paid-only products aren't necessary less "featurable". What would make them less featurable is no way to preview what the user can expect to experience (interface, output, workflow, etc).
If you're marketing is really clear and the product is available upon sign up/purchase then that's perfect! I took a quick look at your landing page and I would highly recommend some sort of demo video, either a @Loom or an @Arcade are great! Adding the demo to the launch would be helpful as well.
The key thing is to share and show why your product is special and how it's different than what is currently on the market.
Dropboard
@gabe Great, thank you!
Thanks @gabe Glad I saw this. I am planning my first PH launch in about 1 month. I am gate keeping my landing page with "Join Waitlist" as I build my campaign and do some outreach. Product is there just need to change the links.
Interesting to see that PH team tries the products before hand. Would access to staging environment with demo account be enough for the team to vet? (Saves you a ton of time). Production is exactly the same minus the onboarding!
Given the time frame when would be the ideal time to get the product vetted? I need a nudge to commit to a date!
Much appreciated.
Thanks and great suggestion to change to an onboarding call. Easily done. When I mentioned staging I was specifically talking about the vetting process for your internal review. The product will be available in full, it actually already is. We'll cross that bridge when we get it.
Indie.Deals
I remember Product Hunt changing its stance on directories and curation sites around 2023-24 saying it won't be featured anymore (in a way, its a good thing) but recently I noticed a lot of such "products" being featured.
Before you say "there could be something different", nope it was typical directory site with linked pages and details. Has something changed in the criteria of such products/projects?
Product Hunt
Hi@adithya - we take a pretty hard stance on directories. Can you point us to an exact example that was recently featured? Want to make sure nothing slips through, or if there are some we're understanding why. I appreciate you pointing this out!
Indie.Deals
Sure @gabe Let me see if I can find it. It was something related to AI Tools which I noticed in the last 1-2 weeks.
Btw, I would also highlight another issue. Take it up on email?
Launched once on here before - It went reasonably well although didn't get the feature - For our next-one, I'm compiling all the advice we need & hoping to nail it!
Seriously impressive that you try each of the products, do they have to be 'HUNTED' specifically to try them, or if they are 'launched-normally' do you not bother?
Thank you Gabe!
Product Hunt
@cranqnow keep at it, Sam! Products don't have to be "hunted" as long as they're scheduled to launch, I'll review them. I try to keep it fair game and review all launches equally, regardless of who hunts them :)
@gabe I appreciate you taking the time to explain that!
Thanks Gabe, looking forward to getting the launch off the ground :)
Stellify
Potentially stupid question incoming... Do you feature products without a scheduled launch?
Product Hunt
@stellify_software launches can only be scheduled - if it's in a draft, I don't review it.
Stellify
NewOaks AI
@gabe Thanks for the clear guideline! What methodology or process will you recommend for polishing the tagline or refining value proposition of a new product?
Product Hunt
@ray_luan keep it simple and clear. Read your tagline and think "will my mom get it". Try to avoid marketing jargon as well.
For example:
NOT GOOD:
The best to do list - forever free
GOOD:
Todo list that syncs w/ Spotify to play tracks according to the task
Hope that helps!
NewOaks AI
Gabe, thanks for the comments! Very insightful. I am launching my product EZsite AI on April 8th, hope my tagline can make my mom understand and upvote for it.
what outliers have you featured, @gabe ? you cover a few just-fo-fun products, which is great. what about service businesses? I'm thinking something like @Hue back in the day which rebranded to designjoy since his launch on here
Product Hunt
@taniabell we do not feature services. In the past we may have, but we haven't done so for quite a while. You can see this reflected in our FAQ as well. The reasoning is simply that they are typically not products.
Deamoy
Thanks for the insights, Gabe! 🙏 Love the "mom test" tip. Quick Q: How do you balance featuring truly novel products vs. "better versions" of existing tools? And any plans for a "Hidden Gem" category for niche-but-critical solutions? Keep fighting the good fight! 🔥
Deamoy
@gabe thx :D