How important is a Hunter for product release?

Question

We are planning to launch our product in PH soon. I see each of the product has a hunter with lots of followers. Being new to this, i am not sure about the role of the hunter and how important is to have one. Would like to know your views. In case if it is mandatory to have an hunter, how to find one to launch ours. Thanks and appreciate your feedback.

Matt Harbord · Accepted Answer

@salil_sethi I'm afraid I don't know. On the one hand having someone lend you their social reputation is obviously useful, but if it's just a case of having someone like me hunt your product my understanding is that it makes no difference at all! So, in that sense, being hunted can obviously make a difference, though it's the hunter, not the act of hunting that is that difference. Would happily be corrected by now experienced PH's though!

Matt Harbord · Answer

It's not mandatory to have a Hunter - don't worry :)

PH have put together a useful guide here: https://blog.producthunt.com/how-to-launch-on-product-hunt-7c1843e06399 Worth a read.

Randolph · Answer

@chandramouli PH also has a product called Ship (second link on menu). This allows you to create a page under Upcoming (first link in second section of menu).

You can post one message to your upcoming page per week (most visits happen within first week) with the free plan and collect emails of interested PH users to get feedback, help get your product off the ground, and make your actual launch day more of a success.

Also, it can be beneficial to echo your launch on Reddit, Hacker News, etc.

I hope it goes well!

Randolph · Answer

A Hunter can help in the sense that they have some network exposure. When they hunt a product, it sends a notification saying "Person has hunted X".

I wouldn't worry about this as the effects are small. A proper campaign and preparation will see better results.

Stirring up anticipation within your network, announcing your launch (prior and the day of), and being active in the comments when you launch will help solidify success.

The algorithm favors hunted products with heavier action (website visits, up votes, comments) in the first hour or so.

Chandramouli Kothandaraman · Answer

@matt_harbord Thanks. That helps!

Salil Sethi · Answer

@matt_harbord Does it help though?

Chandramouli Kothandaraman · Answer

@hoffertr Thanks for your comments. As a new comer to PH, we felt a word of mouth by a influencer would help much as per your first line. However, we will go on our own in case if we couldn't find one. The last line feels good to know that there is an inbuilt mechanism that helps on the launch day.

Chandramouli Kothandaraman · Answer

@hoffertr Thanks. Just posted a message as suggested.

Chandramouli Kothandaraman · Answer

@matt_harbord Do the hunters expect something in return to hunt a product? We are new to PH and we don't have any track record as such for a hunter to verify. If no other options exist, we have to hunt on our own. However, we would like to leverage the advantage it will provide as mentioned by you above. Thanks

Salil Sethi · Answer

Curious about this also.

How important is a Hunter for product release?

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