The Complete Guide to Launching on Product Hunt

Product Hunt is a place where journalists, investors, and members of the tech community spend time discovering and discussing new products. Comprised of a community of innovators and early adopters, the platform can help reach a large audience all at once: famously one product received 43,000 unique views by being voted to number one. The front page of PH gets the most exposure, and these top products are promoted in their email digest. But in order to reap these benefits, it’s vital to understand how PH works, and be creative about how to make the most of your launch.

In an effort to help RDV founders maximize their PH launch, we’ve created a step by step guide in addition to some tips from RDV founders and members of the community to help you prepare and launch on PH.

**Special thanks to contributors Natasia Malaihollo of Wyzerr, Mathew Pregasen of Parsegon, and Matt Arbesfeld of Apphub/LogRocket.**

Prep:

In the months before:

1. If you’re new to PH, start by exploring collections, posting comments, and getting a feel for how the community functions.

2. Build an email list months before you launch. This should include influencers, advisors, and friends who will support you during launch day.

3. If you have newsletter subscribers, plan to send out a special message to them specifically about your Product Hunt launch.

4. Create a list of your company’s mentors who have a strong following on Twitter. Let them know they can tweet out your PH page link with a description on launch day to show their support.

In the weeks before:

1. Find a “hunter.” A hunter is a PH influencer, someone who has many followers all of whom will be notified when he or she submits the product either via email or through the PH notification system. Here’s a list of the top 500 Hunters on Product Hunt — having one of them add your product will certainly increase your chance of being featured and the number of upvotes you’ll receive when you are featured.

2. Create a kit for the hunter. This will include:

• Name of the product (max 60 characters).
• The URL you want to promote. Include the URL that links to your app as well, if you have one.
• Tagline (max 60 characters).
• The platforms your product runs on.
• Media — between 5 and 10 images showcasing different parts of your product. Use gifs and emojis! PH’s entire brand is built around emojis & gifs (especially those that include cats). If you also have a YouTube video, definitely include this as well.☺️