Hey PH community,

I ve been noticing a shift more and more products these days are AI-powered, AI-enhanced, or just... AI everything.

While the possibilities are exciting, I sometimes wonder:

• Are we moving too fast without fully thinking through the problems we re solving?

• Are we relying on AI because it s trendy or because it genuinely improves the product?

Here's everything you need to know

Vertical AI is made up of 3 core products:

Vertical Stream all AI models in one place

I'm seeing more products launch on Product Hunt that require payment to actually use any features. No free trial, no freemium tier, just a download that leads straight to a paywall.

Part of me thinks this makes sense. If your product has real value, why give it away? People on Product Hunt understand they're looking at premium tools. Plus offering free access can attract users who will never pay anyway.

But I also see the argument for temporary free access during launch. Product Hunt users want to actually try what they're upvoting. How can they give meaningful feedback or become advocates if they hit a paywall immediately?

Thank you all again for the support and interest in our last couple launches. We've been continuously working and experimenting with the best way to leverage the latest AI models and tools for productivity. We've explored different iterations of workspaces, agent builders, and chat interfaces with a focus on a seamless user experience.
Since this time, we've collected usage data and feedback to laser focus on a single feature that we can do very, very well. We decided to build out an intelligent knowledge system that utilizes both notes (like Notion or Obsidian) with data items (like a CRM or project management tool). The UI is compact and focuses on a single or split view of your notes, data, or an assistant chat.

In this system the goal is the provide the best way to add and organize knowledge for doing work more productively, and initial features include:

• Parsing document files (pdf, docx, md, etc.) using OCR

• Audio recording and transcription

• Scrape info from web URL

• Custom data schemas to represent tasks, events, contacts, etc.

• Automatic data extraction

• Intelligent search and retrieval

Hey makers,

I launched my product recently on Product Hunt. I put effort into the messaging, visuals, and value and was honestly excited to share it. But after 24 hours, I ve barely gotten any traction. A handful of upvotes, no meaningful feedback just cold emails and offers from marketers.

We ve been building Idea TBD in public - a weekly drop where we share raw product ideas, highlight early-stage tools, and experiment with building a community around curiosity and creativity.

It s scrappy. It s messy. It s ours.

Here s what we ve learned so far

Substack Traction

I believe this topic is relevant to you as well, since there are many company founders here at various stages of starting up or running their businesses.

Visual Capitalist shared the results of Glassdoor reviews, revealing which companies are most admired by their employees. (See the infographic below.)

I am Head of Marketing at Global AI Platform's US office in Silicon Valley, working on GTM for our app's US public availability launch this Summer'25. We re in the final stages of beta testing our mobile app (focused on meal and weekend planning), and we want to be intentional and avoid rushing just because we feel ready.

We re working on defining exit criteria the metrics, signals, and checkboxes that say:

Yes, it s time to move from beta to full release.

It's simple. Drop your next big idea and get some brutally honest but hopefully valuable feedback. The rules are:

• Drop your idea, you don't have to go super in depth but give a sentence or two about what it is and does.

• Get roasted, duh

• Roast someone else's.

That way we create a cycle of feedback

Hey everyone

I ve been building products for a long time (15+ years), and I recently tried using v0.dev for the first time. Honestly didn t expect much, but I was surprised how quickly I got something real off the ground - not just a playground UI, but a fully working fitness app with protected routes, dashboards, flow logic, the works.

It s called The HIIT PIT and it s live, but that s not why I m posting.

I m more curious to hear from other devs and indie makers: