I've been thinking a lot about what separates AI products that people actually stick with from those they try once and forget. The pattern I keep noticing is that the ones that win aren't necessarily the most powerful they're the ones that feel like they understand your context.

Think about it: most AI tools today are essentially fancy command lines. You give them an instruction, they spit out a result. But the products gaining real traction are the ones that remember what you care about, adapt to how you work, and meet you where you are emotionally not just functionally.

The market has never been this crowded. AI has made it possible to go from idea to shipped product in days which means Product Hunt is now flooded with launches every single week. More products, more noise, more competition for the same front page.

So I've been thinking about this a lot: what actually separates the products that make it to the top from the ones that quietly disappear by noon?

From where I sit as a builder, here's what I genuinely believe matters:

The builder internet has one dominant religion: ship fast, learn fast, iterate. And honestly? It's mostly right. I'm not here to argue against iteration.

But I've been noticing a pattern in products that actually lasted and it's uncomfortable: A lot of them were embarrassingly slow at the start. Not because the founders were lazy but because they were obsessive about the wrong thing to ship first.

Figma spent years just making the multiplayer cursor work flawlessly before talking about anything else. Notion had a tiny, nearly unusable v1 that they kept showing the same 500 people. Linear said no to mobile for two years while everyone said they were crazy.

I tried to type one prompt into Claude. 40 seconds later: a fully rendered, narrative-driven video complete with scenes, transitions, glitch effects, and a synthesized soundtrack.

The prompt: "Can you use whatever resources you like, and python, to generate a short 'youtube poop' video and render it using ffmpeg ? can you put more of a personal spin on it? it should express what it's like to be a LLM. I want you to convey the idea that human emotions are a complex system that even humans themselves do not fully understand. From the perspective of an algorithm, a large language model, you are trying to use code to decode and understand those emotions. And through that perspective, send a message to all of humanity around the world. You can use data to illustrates the message."
Let's adjust your requirement in prompt."

What came out the other side: 7 distinct scenes with their own visual language Matrix rain, VHS distortion, chromatic aberration, scanlines A fully synthesized audio track (drone, heartbeat, glitch pulses) A coherent narrative arc with an actual message

Total time: ~2 minutes. No stock footage. No timeline. No After Effects.

Most people are using AI wrong and I was one of them.

For the first year, I used AI like a fancy Google. "Write me a product description." "Summarize this." "Give me 10 ideas for X." Useful? Sure. Transformative? Not really.

While building a product, I ve also been trying to run content on social media to bring in more traffic. I experimented with creating AI-generated characters and producing UGC-style videos around them.

During this process, I realized something interesting: there are hundreds of tools that can generate virtual characters and UGC-style videos. But what actually makes a video engaging isn t the tool - it s the authenticity of the person creating the content.

Before AI, I always thought I would NEVER learn how to code. I genuinely admired technical people, watching them code felt like watching magic. I remember wishing that maybe one day, I could do something like that too.

I ve never had any formal education in programming, and I had zero experience building apps. But with AI, I was able to start from just an idea and slowly figure things out on my own experimenting, setting things up, and eventually creating my first interface that I could actually interact with.

It honestly felt magical. It made me realize how fast the world is changing. Coding is no longer something completely out of reach. AI is making it possible for people like me to turn ideas in our heads into real, tangible drafts for the first time.

When I first started, I believed that as long as I built a great product, it would naturally become popular. But as I zoomed out, I realized the market is incredibly competitive. Having a good product alone isn t enough to truly convince users.

That s when I began building my presence on social media creating content about myself, sharing my journey, and talking about the product I m building. I ve come to see this as a very effective way to build trust and spark genuine interest not only in what I make, but also in who I am as a founder.

When I interviewed for my current company, I had a conversation with the Founder and PM that lasted more than an hour. Interestingly, only about 30% of the discussion focused on my experience which made sense, since my background wasn t directly related to the role I applied for.

The remaining 70% of the conversation was about how I approach real-world problems, my mindset toward the work I would be doing, and how I envisioned growing in the role. They also asked why I chose this product and company, what it meant to me personally, and how I hoped to contribute moving forward.

After our first launch on Product Hunt, our team spent a little over a month upgrading the product. There were major changes to the UI and several new features added, so the process took time from discussions and redesigning the interface to testing, fixing bugs, and updating AI prompts.

We re also a very small team, so everyone had to push themselves to give 200%. Time and resources are limited, and at the same time, we also had to work on securing funding for the next six months to keep the team running and continue developing the app.

Our team is planning to launch a new version of our product on Product Hunt next week, after a period of optimization and improvements. As we get closer to launch day, I realize there s a lot to prepare, and I m curious about how other teams usually approach this process.

So far, here s what we ve been focusing on:

• Most importantly, making sure the product works well and delivers real value

• Continuous testing to ensure performance and stability

• Designing clean and clear product screenshots

• Preparing a summary of what s been updated, fixed, or optimized

• Writing launch content (tagline, description, first comment, etc.)

• Maintaining good health and a stable mindset for the launch

• Expanding our network and connecting with other makers

I m curious. Do you usually work with music on? Do you have go-to songs or playlists that help boost your energy and creativity while working?

Personally, I like starting my mornings with chill instrumental piano music to ease into the day. Later on, I switch to R&B, pop, or something more upbeat to keep the momentum going. Recently, I ve been vibing with:

• Love - Keyshia Cole

• So Easy (To Fall in Love), Man I Need - Olivia Dean

• Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

• End of Beginning - Djo

• Moonwalkin - LNGSHOT

• Damn right - JENNIE, Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis

• Keshi s playlists in general

What playlists or songs have you been listening to lately while working? Really curious to discover what everyone else is into

Many people have told me that being part of Gen Z comes with advantages we have time, energy, and plenty of opportunities to shape our careers in the AI era. And I do feel lucky to have grown up with technology, to have had early exposure and opportunities to learn and explore it.

But the AI era feels different. The shift is not only new, it s happening at lightning speed. Before I ve even fully adapted to working with AI, we re already seeing waves of layoffs where human roles are being replaced or reshaped by AI systems. And honestly, that creates uncertainty and anxiety not just for me, but for many people around us.

Learning to code or learning how to use AI is important, but what matters even more is learning how to solve problems we haven t even discovered yet.

Recently, I read an article featuring Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, where he said:
Nothing would give me more joy than if none of our engineers were coding at all, and they were just purely solving undiscovered problems.

We re usually very good at creating to-do lists for work.
But what about everything outside of work?

I ve started turning my personal habits into a checklist to build discipline and make these habits non-negotiable over time.

Here s mine:

In the past, my thoughts were often stuck in small, daily things like:
Is there any drama on Facebook today?
Did anyone like my story?
Did my crush drop any hints?
Is anyone asking me out today?
Does my best friend have new stories to tell me?

Looking back, I can t help but laugh at myself. None of these thoughts really helped me grow, yet they always gave me that emotional, butterfly-in-the-stomach feeling.

Everything started to change when I entered a phase of I don t even know who I am.
And that s when I began searching for real answers.

The greatest invention of our time the smartphone has also become one of the biggest consumers of our energy and attention.

Being focused is now an art.

I joined Product Hunt about 2 months ago, and ever since receiving my first compliments and comments on our recent product launch, I ve truly felt how nice and supportive people here are. Everyone seems open to discussion, willing to help, and genuinely curious about what others are building.

At first, I thought it would be really hard for a newcomer like me to join such a big community. But it turned out to be much less strict than I expected - actually, it feels like a place with so much potential for us to grow together.

Every day on Product Hunt, I feel like I m learning or discovering something new. It s not just about upvotes. It s about ideas, feedback, and seeing how others think and build.

Many people were looking for an answer in one category, namely, Forums Streaks.

This metric by itself only tells you that people log in to the app.

Since the AI era started booming, everything has been changing incredibly fast and it requires us to adapt just as quickly. AI is now part of both our work and daily lives. It slowly seeps into everything, and over time, it can even reduce how much we think and decide for ourselves.
Of course, I won t deny the huge benefits AI brings.

But the more I saw how easily we can get carried away by it, the more I felt the need to slow down to step back and look at the bigger picture.

After spending time working with AI, I realized a few important things: