I posted a random thread on X about the cost of living in the Netherlands. Nothing about what we're building. Just genuine thoughts about life in the Netherlands.
It hit 1M+ impressions. And here's the weird part we got a ton of signups and paid users for Starnus from it. Without ever mentioning the product.
Meanwhile, my "here's what Starnus does" posts? Way less engagement.
This genuinely messed with my head. I'm sharing the actual X post below
Product Hunt is best known for its homepage, a daily leaderboard of the most creative and innovative products on the internet. Makers go all out to win launch day, because that visibility matters. Product Hunt also plays a significant role in how products appear in Google search results.
What surprised us was that AI assistants like ChatGPT were rarely citing Product Hunt in product recommendations.
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.
I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for the incredible support during our launch week. Seeing VolumeHub climb the rankings and reading all your thoughtful comments has been absolutely amazing. The fact that 200+ people upvoted and believed in this project means the world to me!
What was the reason for any YC rejection you faced in the past? And what would you suggest future founders do differently with their profile/ idea/ application to minimize downside?
As usual, Y Combinator came up with segments that are worth investing:
1. Cursor for Product Managers
2. AI-Native Hedge Funds
3. AI-Native Agencies
4. Stablecoin Financial Services
5. AI for Government
6. Modern Metal Mills
7. AI Guidance for Physical Work 8. Large Spatial Models 9. Infra for Government Fraud Hunters 10. Make LLMs Easy to Train