Tania Bell

Tania Bell

product manager, learning to code
657 points

Forums

My latest post on Reddit got 300k+ views and 1000 upvotes. Here are 8 things that helped me go viral

1. Effort results
I ve spent hours on posts that got 0 attention. I wrote my most viral post in 10 minutes while having morning coffee. You never know what will take off. Don't overthink it, just start writing and posting.
2. Don't be afraid to help competitors
Some people say building in public I only give my competitors an advantage. That's is partly true. At least 2 people reached out and said they built a similar product after my posts.
But first, this is great - the more the merrier, and the market is big enough for everybody.
Second, your real edge is not the tech you are using. It's the attention to the product you can generate. And social media is the only way to achieve it if you don't have millions for marketing.
3. Reddit hate is brutal
If your post has even a faint smell of promotion - people will hate you on Reddit. And when they do, they hate firecely. Expect a lot of angry DMs and downvotes.
4. Share your REAL struggles
The only way to avoid this and still get views, is being real. Share scary and cringy stuff. If you feel like you re gonna burn from shame after posting - it means you are posting the right thing.
5. Post on the right subs
Not all Reddit subs are equal. Most ban promotion posts. I always post on r/SideProject or r/SaaS. They are friendly to builders and your story will more likely resonate there.
6. Adjacent audiences rock
Some say builder subs are useless, because only your competitors hang out there. This is not true.
After my viral post on r/SaaS, I got a lot of leads for Yadaphone. Turned out many people on r/Saas and r/SideProject are freelancers, business owners and digital nomads. They all needed a cheap overseas call solution and I got a ton of new paying customers.
7. Not posting a link works
Avoid including a link to your product in Reddit posts. First, it s the quickest way to get banned for promotion. Second, if people like your product, they will google it, and it s a huge boost for SEO. Just share the name of the product in the post or wait until somebody asks for the link in the comments (somebody always does).
8. Non-native English is an advantage
This is a bonus for all non-native speakers out there. I used to push all my texts through ChatGPT to fix style and mistakes. And it only got me downvoted because people thought my texts were AI-generated.
Now I just write and post stuff as is. Making mistakes shows you are human, and Reddit values that over your perfect English
P.S. avoid the em dash at all costs, this is a clear sign you used AI (even if you didn t).
If your are curious about my viral post in r/SaaS, you can read it here. By the way, please upvote if you like it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/co...

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

What's your AI stack for creating content?

If you had to make image or video with sound to publish what tools would you use? What type of content do you (or would you) produce with those tools?

Some tools I'm thinking of are

  • @Sora by OpenAI for video

  • @Suno.ai for music gen

  • @ChatGPT by OpenAI for image gen

  • and maybe something like @ReelFarm for UCG-esque automated content.

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

Vibe coding process - do we jump in or plan it out?

I'm super curious how everyone starts to vibe code? In the beginning I would simply jump into @bolt.new or @Cursor and just do a prompt and continue refining with the AI. I quickly realized this created a lot of issues as I didn't think about the structure, tech stack, and how I wanted the features to interact with each other and how the way I was building things would impact the user experience. I now do the following:

  • Write down a simple problem statement: "what am I trying to solve?"

  • Write down a simple solution statement: "what does the thing I'm building do (to solve the problem)"

  • Share the above with @ChatGPT by OpenAI and word vomit my thoughts, ideas, how I want the user to interact with my app, etc and ASK ChatGPT to turn everything I said and want into an easy to understand directive and instructions for an Engineer.

  • I then take the Engineer instructions and give it to a new chat in ChatGPT and ask it to turn those instructions into a prompt for an AI engineer and to break up the project into sections so that each time we focus on a section the app is shippable and keeps things easy to work on.

  • I take the output and paste it into my notes. I then give it to Cursor.

  • Once in Cursor, I create a new project folder and got at it!

Curious what everyone else does and if you've experience any things to avoid or must do

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

Vibe coding process - do we jump in or plan it out?

I'm super curious how everyone starts to vibe code? In the beginning I would simply jump into @bolt.new or @Cursor and just do a prompt and continue refining with the AI. I quickly realized this created a lot of issues as I didn't think about the structure, tech stack, and how I wanted the features to interact with each other and how the way I was building things would impact the user experience. I now do the following:

  • Write down a simple problem statement: "what am I trying to solve?"

  • Write down a simple solution statement: "what does the thing I'm building do (to solve the problem)"

  • Share the above with @ChatGPT by OpenAI and word vomit my thoughts, ideas, how I want the user to interact with my app, etc and ASK ChatGPT to turn everything I said and want into an easy to understand directive and instructions for an Engineer.

  • I then take the Engineer instructions and give it to a new chat in ChatGPT and ask it to turn those instructions into a prompt for an AI engineer and to break up the project into sections so that each time we focus on a section the app is shippable and keeps things easy to work on.

  • I take the output and paste it into my notes. I then give it to Cursor.

  • Once in Cursor, I create a new project folder and got at it!

Curious what everyone else does and if you've experience any things to avoid or must do

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

Launching on App Store vs DMG Distribution - why would I choose one over the other?

This thread was written with Sakura Latte playing in the background
I have apps that are pretty much ready to be published but right now I'm debating on having to go through the whole App Store ordeal (they did get approved on TestFlight) or just distribute via my own site where I have a bit more control and don't need to give in to the Apple Store fees if I were to make them paid.
A couple questions I have that maybe the experienced makers here can help me out with are

  • Versioning: I know App Store Connect makes it really easy to update versions of your app. I don't really plan to do that many updates unless the community reports a big bug or there's high demand for a feature. How would I most efficiently do updates if I were to do self-distribution via DMG?

  • Trust: By default, if it's on the App Store there's some level on trust. I personally look at packages and am okay downloading things from internet devs but I'm curious what folks here think? Would distribution hurt download chances?

  • Awareness: This is pretty much the same imo other than App Store search vs SEO but curious if anyone has had negative/positive experience regarding discoverability either through App Store or self-distribution

  • Payments: I would probably use something like @Superwall but am curious what the best way to introduce a "free for 7 days then pay $2 for lifetime access" kind of paywall and if the distribution method impacts this at all.

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

"Stupid apps" are the future and vibing coding will bring the rise of *vibeware* - and its okay.

OP-ED?
Recently I've been finding myself actually buying and downloading apps more than before. The common thread? They're all silly things that almost do nothing.
I say almost because what they do offer is a bit of joy during my work day. Some of the recent apps I've purchased or downloaded are @Klack, Googly Eyes, @Docko, @Ball,@TabTab, and @NotchNook.
Some of these do have productivity or quality of life improvements (looking at the last two) but others are simply about making the computer fun again.
For example @Klack has genuinely made me more focused when I type and I've been able to zone in on work. It's like each clickity-clack is driving me closer to where I want to go and idk, the feedback just feels GOOD. The audio is also really nice, not sure how I can explain it, but feels very high-def for something that is mimicking a tactical feeling.
All these apps remind me of a time where shareware and P2P ( @Limewire ) was more popular. Where you might be okay buying a CD or floppy and installing something fun on your computer, then telling (sharing) your buddy about it. And with the rise of vibe coding, I think we're going to see vibeware become a thing. Where users will create something fun, quickly, using AI tools like @Cursor, @Replit, or @bolt.new/@Lovable and then put it at a super low cost or have a free-trial (shareware).
Those that don't want to pay, will create their own iteration of it and choose their own distribution method (P2P) but it won't eat at the original.
It's my genuine feeling that the internet is about to become fun again (it's already started) and I'm curious if I'm the only one feeling this way and/or embracing it?
What do you think? Is the era of vibeware a good thing? And if not why should we refute it?
This piece was written with FKJ - Just Piano in the background.

Gabe Perez

9mo ago

"Stupid apps" are the future and vibing coding will bring the rise of *vibeware* - and its okay.

OP-ED?
Recently I've been finding myself actually buying and downloading apps more than before. The common thread? They're all silly things that almost do nothing.
I say almost because what they do offer is a bit of joy during my work day. Some of the recent apps I've purchased or downloaded are @Klack, Googly Eyes, @Docko, @Ball,@TabTab, and @NotchNook.
Some of these do have productivity or quality of life improvements (looking at the last two) but others are simply about making the computer fun again.
For example @Klack has genuinely made me more focused when I type and I've been able to zone in on work. It's like each clickity-clack is driving me closer to where I want to go and idk, the feedback just feels GOOD. The audio is also really nice, not sure how I can explain it, but feels very high-def for something that is mimicking a tactical feeling.
All these apps remind me of a time where shareware and P2P ( @Limewire ) was more popular. Where you might be okay buying a CD or floppy and installing something fun on your computer, then telling (sharing) your buddy about it. And with the rise of vibe coding, I think we're going to see vibeware become a thing. Where users will create something fun, quickly, using AI tools like @Cursor, @Replit, or @bolt.new/@Lovable and then put it at a super low cost or have a free-trial (shareware).
Those that don't want to pay, will create their own iteration of it and choose their own distribution method (P2P) but it won't eat at the original.
It's my genuine feeling that the internet is about to become fun again (it's already started) and I'm curious if I'm the only one feeling this way and/or embracing it?
What do you think? Is the era of vibeware a good thing? And if not why should we refute it?
This piece was written with FKJ - Just Piano in the background.

New ChatGPT Image Generation is INSANE. What have you created?

Okay, so I know everyone's feed has been taken over by the Studio Ghibli but I'm curious what else people have been able to create or seen that's really left an impression. Here are some that I've created! Also on X.

New ChatGPT Image Generation is INSANE. What have you created?

Okay, so I know everyone's feed has been taken over by the Studio Ghibli but I'm curious what else people have been able to create or seen that's really left an impression. Here are some that I've created! Also on X.

Product Huntp/producthuntGabe Perez

10mo ago

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.

Product Huntp/producthuntGabe Perez

10mo ago

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.

🚨 Landing Page Roast: 48 Hours Only 🚨

A few of us at Product Hunt are putting on our most brutally honest (but helpful!) hats and roasting landing pages for the next two days. Want in? Drop your link below, and we ll give you real, no-BS feedback on:

Clarity Does your message make sense or sound like corporate soup?
Calls to Action Do we feel compelled to click, or just leave?
Design & UX Smooth experience or rage quit territory?
Anything else Tell us what you want feedback on.

Kenny Hawkins

10mo ago

👋🏼 I'm Kenny

I've been creating Press (The Internet Press), an exclusive profit sharing social network. I see a lot of posts out there advising to not "go after a billion $ unicorn" but are we really going to be stuck with Meta forever?

I want to make what people want! I intend for Press to have limited curated ads to enable profit sharing and people can buy their profile names like a .com for $14 / year and resell at any amount, any time. Posts are crafted with a WYSIWYG editor to post anything from plain text, to your flyers' wildest dreams.

Product of the Week Winners: March 10-16 Spotlight

Hey there, Product Hunters!

Already another Monday, can you believe it?

Nika

10mo ago

Meta creates own chips because of AI. What consequences could this have for us, regular users?

Yesterday I read an article in Reuters that Mark Zuckerberg is investing billions in developing his chips to reduce his dependence on NVIDIA.

Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google want to make them too.

Kaloian Toshev

10mo ago

Is SaaS dead? What’s next when AI takes over?

I m starting to think most SaaS products are on borrowed time. With AI getting smarter every day, it s poised to swallow up their use cases. AI will learn to do what SaaS tools do and at some point it will be easier for the user just to use the AI. I recently saw a tweet claiming that by next year, 90% of code will be AI-generated. If development costs are plummeting to zero, why would anyone pay for a traditional SaaS subscription, when his favourite AI can do the same?

Do you see it the same way? I d love to hear your take.

Nika

10mo ago

How (not) to gather first users when you are an unknown brand. May be helpful to new product makers

From testing new products, I've come to several conclusions and possibly also identified mistakes that product creators make when launching them.

Whenever you want to attract your first testers (especially those who are well-known), try first to build up your credibility.

Mat Sherman

10mo ago

I Hosted a Hackathon Where Folks Had to Build A Product In Under An Hour. Here Are My Top 5.

Here are my top 5 products from my hackathon I hosted last night. Note, these all were built in an hour using AI tools like @Lovable , @bolt.new , @Replit , and @Cursor !!! Pretty nuts.

- GapFinder - Enter a topic, what you know about a topic, this it uses AI to figure out what you may not know about that topic and highlights it for you to learn (https://mind-mapper-kappa.vercel...)

- Motivational Coach - Tell an AI what your goal is, set its tone, the literally talk to the AI with your voice. It will push you to accomplish your goals. Uses ElevenLabs for the voice. (https://motivational-coach.repli...

Leeann Trang

10mo ago

What do you prefer for brainstorming - Miro, Figjam or other?

Here at Product Hunt, we found that we were slowly shifting away from @Miro and defaulting to @Notion for typing up brainstorming notes during meetings (we use @Tandem so already have built-in breakout rooms, ambient music options and timers).

So we decided to cancel our Miro account and continue to use Notion or switch to a Figjam board if we really needed a sticky notes format (we're already using Figma so it helps reduce the number of tools we are using). *Spoiler alert: we haven't needed to use a sticky note board yet...