The Leaderboard
Our ultra-fast Daily: Three takes on new products. Yesterday’s top ten launches. That’s it.
The Stepchickens cult
If you’re an avid TikTok binger, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of Stepchickens.
The self-proclaimed cult was started by comedian Melissa Ong, aka the Mother Hen. Her call to action inspired a wave of creators to change their profile to what you see above (yes, that’s a pic of the Mother Hen). “Rise up stepchickens!” they said.
The cult expanded into an app and quickly shot toward the top of the App Store. The app is a community of communities with creativity and playfulness at its core. There’s a place for fans of Fortnite, Billie Eilish, cats (of course), k-pop, sneakerheads, and a ton more.
It’s also a tool to create memes and TikTok-friendly videos. We played around with it, impressed with the level of detail that went into its tooling.
Stepchickens is a perfect example of the power of community and how building a community-first strategy might be the best way to start. Mother Hen certainly isn’t the only one to execute a community-first strategy. Casey Neistat spent several years building an audience on YouTube before launching beme, an app designed for his massive following of consumers and creators.
Many makers and entrepreneurs often build a product in isolation. The “build it and they will come” strategy rarely works. If you’re building something new, consider involving a community of people excited about your vision. These people will provide the best feedback and help get the word out.
Plug: We built Ship to do just that. It’s a tool to find early adopters and involve them in the building process.
If you’re looking to join a new cult, check out Stepchickens. 🐔
The self-proclaimed cult was started by comedian Melissa Ong, aka the Mother Hen. Her call to action inspired a wave of creators to change their profile to what you see above (yes, that’s a pic of the Mother Hen). “Rise up stepchickens!” they said.
The cult expanded into an app and quickly shot toward the top of the App Store. The app is a community of communities with creativity and playfulness at its core. There’s a place for fans of Fortnite, Billie Eilish, cats (of course), k-pop, sneakerheads, and a ton more.
It’s also a tool to create memes and TikTok-friendly videos. We played around with it, impressed with the level of detail that went into its tooling.
Stepchickens is a perfect example of the power of community and how building a community-first strategy might be the best way to start. Mother Hen certainly isn’t the only one to execute a community-first strategy. Casey Neistat spent several years building an audience on YouTube before launching beme, an app designed for his massive following of consumers and creators.
Many makers and entrepreneurs often build a product in isolation. The “build it and they will come” strategy rarely works. If you’re building something new, consider involving a community of people excited about your vision. These people will provide the best feedback and help get the word out.
Plug: We built Ship to do just that. It’s a tool to find early adopters and involve them in the building process.
If you’re looking to join a new cult, check out Stepchickens. 🐔
“No cream with 7 Splenda” ☕️
Many of us start the day with a cup of coffee. 64% of Americans drink coffee regularly according to the NCA, with over 2 billion cups consumed globally on a daily basis (according to Wikipedia).
The Product Hunt team is no different. We drink a lot of coffee. A Philz run during our team retreat is a mission. Who takes no cream with 7 Splenda?? What’s a mint mojito?? We even had our own limited-run blend called the the caffeinated kitty. But nowadays, Aaron is without question our resident coffee connoisseur. Check out that whip:
Over the years we’ve seen numerous coffee products launch on Product Hunt. So much so that we dedicated a whole topic to the caffeinated beans. Here’s a short selection:
Taika recently launched with a promise to “accentuate reality” with its cold brew enhanced by adaptogens designed to keep you calm, focused and clear. We recently tried it. It’s good.
Brew Diary makes it easier to brew the perfect, consistent cup using an Apple Watch.
Source Coffee is a hand-curated database of specialty coffee shops around the world.
Coffunity is a community of coffee drinkers sharing tips to achieve that perfect brew.
Quokka Brew launched today is a cold brew in a can with added nootropics with brain boosting qualities.
Coffee Pixels is a solid bar of coffee. Think a chocolate bar, but it’s coffee.
YESPLZ Coffee delivers coffee and a (physical!) magazine every month.
Ripple Maker turn selfies into coffee art (seriously).
If tea is more your thing, here is a robot that will make it for you. 🙃
The Product Hunt team is no different. We drink a lot of coffee. A Philz run during our team retreat is a mission. Who takes no cream with 7 Splenda?? What’s a mint mojito?? We even had our own limited-run blend called the the caffeinated kitty. But nowadays, Aaron is without question our resident coffee connoisseur. Check out that whip:
Over the years we’ve seen numerous coffee products launch on Product Hunt. So much so that we dedicated a whole topic to the caffeinated beans. Here’s a short selection:
Taika recently launched with a promise to “accentuate reality” with its cold brew enhanced by adaptogens designed to keep you calm, focused and clear. We recently tried it. It’s good.
Brew Diary makes it easier to brew the perfect, consistent cup using an Apple Watch.
Source Coffee is a hand-curated database of specialty coffee shops around the world.
Coffunity is a community of coffee drinkers sharing tips to achieve that perfect brew.
Quokka Brew launched today is a cold brew in a can with added nootropics with brain boosting qualities.
Coffee Pixels is a solid bar of coffee. Think a chocolate bar, but it’s coffee.
YESPLZ Coffee delivers coffee and a (physical!) magazine every month.
Ripple Maker turn selfies into coffee art (seriously).
If tea is more your thing, here is a robot that will make it for you. 🙃
Shopify’s new side project
Yesterday, Shopify launched its Canva competitor, Taler, an always-free design builder with customizable templates and photos. The aim is to make it easier for makers and ecommerce entrepreneurs to share beautiful assets on social media without a designer.
Taler isn’t the first “side project” launched by the $110B+ company. Last year Shopify launched Hatchful, a tool to create your own logo. Last month they introduced DopinBlog to make it easy to embed a blog into Shopify sites.
Shopify isn’t the only big company spending time and resources on side projects. Facebook’s NPE team continues to explore new ideas with Bump, AUX, Whale, and more. AWS recently launched a beta of an experimental no-code platform called Honeycode. Last week Google released Shoploop, a video-based shopping app for beauty products.
We’re big fans of side projects – that’s how Product Hunt started – and continue to explore new ideas. Our most recent project: Product Hunt Mentors Network. Side projects offer teams and individuals creative outlets to be experimental, scratch curiosity, and to take risks. Don’t underestimate what a side project might grow into.
It’s also worth noting that it’s OK if a side project doesn’t succeed, as long as there’s learning. Of course failure isn’t the goal but the experience from a failed project can be beneficial; another step toward building something meaningful and wanted. We’ve written in some detail about our own side project failures if you want to learn from some of our past missteps.
Let us know what side projects you’re working on right now over on Twitter. We’d love to see what you’re building.
Taler isn’t the first “side project” launched by the $110B+ company. Last year Shopify launched Hatchful, a tool to create your own logo. Last month they introduced DopinBlog to make it easy to embed a blog into Shopify sites.
Shopify isn’t the only big company spending time and resources on side projects. Facebook’s NPE team continues to explore new ideas with Bump, AUX, Whale, and more. AWS recently launched a beta of an experimental no-code platform called Honeycode. Last week Google released Shoploop, a video-based shopping app for beauty products.
We’re big fans of side projects – that’s how Product Hunt started – and continue to explore new ideas. Our most recent project: Product Hunt Mentors Network. Side projects offer teams and individuals creative outlets to be experimental, scratch curiosity, and to take risks. Don’t underestimate what a side project might grow into.
It’s also worth noting that it’s OK if a side project doesn’t succeed, as long as there’s learning. Of course failure isn’t the goal but the experience from a failed project can be beneficial; another step toward building something meaningful and wanted. We’ve written in some detail about our own side project failures if you want to learn from some of our past missteps.
Let us know what side projects you’re working on right now over on Twitter. We’d love to see what you’re building.
The end of pointless meetings
We’ve all been in a meeting that should have been an email. Some information is just more efficiently shared asynchronously.
That doesn’t mean that all meetings are pointless. They’re a necessary part of working life, but the misplaced meeting notes, back and forth scheduling, forgotten action items, and open agendas are frustrating (especially right before lunchtime 😋).
Luckily there are now plenty of tools available to make meetings better. We’ve seen an increasing number of products emerge in this space. Here are a few:
Rate the meeting helps with scheduling and gathering feedback after each meeting
Hugo turns your calendar into a collaborative note-taking tool
Navigator creates a collaborative workspace for each meeting
Jottie brings note-taking, to-do lists and decisions making to meetings
Tooqan collects honest feedback post meeting from attendees
Loom kills the meeting (we love and use it at Product Hunt)
Veed is an alternative to Loom that records your screen and webcam side by side
Range visualizes your team’s daily standup asynchronously in Slack
Meetingbird means you can avoid the back and forth when scheduling a meeting
And when you’re stuck in a painful meeting, use Callback to fake an "emergency call". We won’t tell. 😉
(Image credit: reddit /Vizzer97/)
That doesn’t mean that all meetings are pointless. They’re a necessary part of working life, but the misplaced meeting notes, back and forth scheduling, forgotten action items, and open agendas are frustrating (especially right before lunchtime 😋).
Luckily there are now plenty of tools available to make meetings better. We’ve seen an increasing number of products emerge in this space. Here are a few:
Rate the meeting helps with scheduling and gathering feedback after each meeting
Hugo turns your calendar into a collaborative note-taking tool
Navigator creates a collaborative workspace for each meeting
Jottie brings note-taking, to-do lists and decisions making to meetings
Tooqan collects honest feedback post meeting from attendees
Loom kills the meeting (we love and use it at Product Hunt)
Veed is an alternative to Loom that records your screen and webcam side by side
Range visualizes your team’s daily standup asynchronously in Slack
Meetingbird means you can avoid the back and forth when scheduling a meeting
And when you’re stuck in a painful meeting, use Callback to fake an "emergency call". We won’t tell. 😉
(Image credit: reddit /Vizzer97/)
“This is game-changing”
This weekend tech Twitter was ablaze with tweets about OpenAI’s newest project, GPT-3. A handful of makers and builders received early access to test out the new AI model with some incredible results. This is one of our favorites from Jordan Singer, a Maker of the Year nominee from a few years ago.
While there’s debate about how “game-changing” GPT-3 is, it’s undoubtably another step toward the future. In a tweet, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, stated, “For non-programmers, it's like experiencing the magic of programming for the first time.”
Over the years – especially the last few – we’ve seen an increase in the number of AI-related products launch on Product Hunt. No doubt we’ll see a wave of GPT-3 powered experiments shortly. In the meantime, here are 10 AI-powered products launched over the last few months:
Is it cake answers the internets biggest question of the moment
Slazzer quickly removes the background on any image
Fluently users machine learning to help you write in any language
Rosebud AI generates realistic, but fake, virtual models
Perfect Quote uses AI to find quotes that match any image
Krew offers at home fitness options enhanced with AI use cases
Proven offers personalized skincare powered by AI tailored to individuals
PodBot.ai generates and records a podcast episode about your topic of interest
Pearlii offers free, fast dental check-ups using AI image processing
Let’s Enhance uses AI to increase photo resolution with no loss in quality
Follow the Artificial Intelligence topic to keep up to date on the latest AI launches.
While there’s debate about how “game-changing” GPT-3 is, it’s undoubtably another step toward the future. In a tweet, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, stated, “For non-programmers, it's like experiencing the magic of programming for the first time.”
Over the years – especially the last few – we’ve seen an increase in the number of AI-related products launch on Product Hunt. No doubt we’ll see a wave of GPT-3 powered experiments shortly. In the meantime, here are 10 AI-powered products launched over the last few months:
Is it cake answers the internets biggest question of the moment
Slazzer quickly removes the background on any image
Fluently users machine learning to help you write in any language
Rosebud AI generates realistic, but fake, virtual models
Perfect Quote uses AI to find quotes that match any image
Krew offers at home fitness options enhanced with AI use cases
Proven offers personalized skincare powered by AI tailored to individuals
PodBot.ai generates and records a podcast episode about your topic of interest
Pearlii offers free, fast dental check-ups using AI image processing
Let’s Enhance uses AI to increase photo resolution with no loss in quality
Follow the Artificial Intelligence topic to keep up to date on the latest AI launches.
Instagram is the new mall
Instagram just launched Instagram Shop, adding another string to Facebooks e-commerce bow. Users in the US will now be able to shop directly inside Instagram Explore, with other countries rolling out in the coming weeks.
The intention is to make it easier for users to shop from brands and creators through personalized recommendations and trending topics, as well as access exclusive launches all within the app. This seems to be a natural extension to Shopping on Instagram that launched on Product Hunt 4 years ago.
To make purchases and donations at the checkout, customers can use Facebook Pay which was announced last year and will be launching in the US this week.
E-commerce is a booming business and several companies – big and small – are exploring new approaches to product discovery.
Just recently, Google introduced ShopLoop, offering an alternative online shopping experience with TikTok-like videos mostly focused on beauty products (so far).
In May we spoke in more detail about the rise of Shopify and the launch of its app, Shop. Since then its stock price has increased another 23%, a reflection of the company’s execution and the market’s confidence in ecommerce in general.
Other creative approaches to product curation and commerce from emerging startups (some of which are no longer around... RIP): YEAY, 8TV, Unboxed, Kit, Thingtesting, and Down to Shop. Everyone’s trying to reinvent the mall, online.
The intention is to make it easier for users to shop from brands and creators through personalized recommendations and trending topics, as well as access exclusive launches all within the app. This seems to be a natural extension to Shopping on Instagram that launched on Product Hunt 4 years ago.
To make purchases and donations at the checkout, customers can use Facebook Pay which was announced last year and will be launching in the US this week.
E-commerce is a booming business and several companies – big and small – are exploring new approaches to product discovery.
Just recently, Google introduced ShopLoop, offering an alternative online shopping experience with TikTok-like videos mostly focused on beauty products (so far).
In May we spoke in more detail about the rise of Shopify and the launch of its app, Shop. Since then its stock price has increased another 23%, a reflection of the company’s execution and the market’s confidence in ecommerce in general.
Other creative approaches to product curation and commerce from emerging startups (some of which are no longer around... RIP): YEAY, 8TV, Unboxed, Kit, Thingtesting, and Down to Shop. Everyone’s trying to reinvent the mall, online.
Zoom's new product for remote teams
Zoom just launched its version of the Facebook Portal for business in partnership with DTEN. They’re calling the product
Zoom for Home - DETN ME.
The DETN ME is a 27 inch touchscreen for video and audio calls through Zoom (of course), collaborative whiteboarding, and document annotation. It is meant to allow for seamless and easy remote calls and sharing, an always-available addition to your work from home setup.
It’s available for preorder for $599, shipping in the US this August. No word on international shipping just yet, so for global teams, we’ll have to make do without for just now.
As remote working and WFH continue to rise, we’re seeing more products emerge to make collaborating remotely better and more seamless with new hardware:
Facebook Portal initially launched with a focus on family communications but has since added language around team collaborations in more recent months.
Meeting Owl Pro is a 360° smart video conferencing camera designed to be set up on the go to make any space a video conferencing room.
Video Window is an immersive always-on video conferencing portal for teams.
SideKick connects colleagues 1-to-1 on a small video screen, especially useful for Executive Assistance and Chief Of Staff roles where constant connection to one other is more valuable than to the whole team.
The DETN ME is a 27 inch touchscreen for video and audio calls through Zoom (of course), collaborative whiteboarding, and document annotation. It is meant to allow for seamless and easy remote calls and sharing, an always-available addition to your work from home setup.
It’s available for preorder for $599, shipping in the US this August. No word on international shipping just yet, so for global teams, we’ll have to make do without for just now.
As remote working and WFH continue to rise, we’re seeing more products emerge to make collaborating remotely better and more seamless with new hardware:
Facebook Portal initially launched with a focus on family communications but has since added language around team collaborations in more recent months.
Meeting Owl Pro is a 360° smart video conferencing camera designed to be set up on the go to make any space a video conferencing room.
Video Window is an immersive always-on video conferencing portal for teams.
SideKick connects colleagues 1-to-1 on a small video screen, especially useful for Executive Assistance and Chief Of Staff roles where constant connection to one other is more valuable than to the whole team.
LEGO and Nintendo’s epic collab
LEGO and Nintendo have joined forces to offer us some light relief and nostalgia in the form of the Nintendo Entertainment System LEGO kit. Currently pre-launch and hitting shelves on August 1st, we know how we’ll be spending some of our socially distanced summer hours.
Other Makers have also brought us joy through these challenging months with their creative product launches:
Invite Rick injected some short-lived joy into our Zoom calls. Unfortunately it violated Zoom’s TOS and quickly shut down 24 hours later. Rick's rolling was just too pure for this world.
Elon Musk Name Generator allowed us all to discover what we would have been called had Elon been our dad.
Goat 2 Meeting invites a farmyard animal to your video meetings. You can even choose between a llama or a goat. Lol.
Bye is an email service that automatically responds with an insult, then deletes every email sent to you. No more inbox zero anxiety.
Zoom Exotic brings Joe Exotic an Carole Baskin to your Zoom backgrounds. Remember when we were all obsessed with Tiger King? 🤪
Proud mom of a CEO Newsletter will email you encouraging notes every weekday. Because, “We believe in you sweetie, you got this!”
PastaDrop allowed us to send a random pasta care package to unsuspecting friends letting them know we were thinking of them.
We’re thankful for the positivity and fun these products, along with many others, have brought us.
Other Makers have also brought us joy through these challenging months with their creative product launches:
Invite Rick injected some short-lived joy into our Zoom calls. Unfortunately it violated Zoom’s TOS and quickly shut down 24 hours later. Rick's rolling was just too pure for this world.
Elon Musk Name Generator allowed us all to discover what we would have been called had Elon been our dad.
Goat 2 Meeting invites a farmyard animal to your video meetings. You can even choose between a llama or a goat. Lol.
Bye is an email service that automatically responds with an insult, then deletes every email sent to you. No more inbox zero anxiety.
Zoom Exotic brings Joe Exotic an Carole Baskin to your Zoom backgrounds. Remember when we were all obsessed with Tiger King? 🤪
Proud mom of a CEO Newsletter will email you encouraging notes every weekday. Because, “We believe in you sweetie, you got this!”
PastaDrop allowed us to send a random pasta care package to unsuspecting friends letting them know we were thinking of them.
We’re thankful for the positivity and fun these products, along with many others, have brought us.
Robinhood’s big raise 💰
Yesterday, Robinhood announced another $320M in funding, valuing the company at 8.6 unicorns. 🦄
Robinhood first launched on Product Hunt 6 years ago allowing users to invest in individual stocks with $0% commission. Many community members called for more international options:
“Germany is calling for Robinhood, too!”- Patrick
“Is there any chance that Robinhood will be available in the UK?”- James
Since then, Robinhood has expanded its empire and is now available in the UK as well as the US.
There are of course lots of ways to invest online. Here are some alternatives that have launched on Product Hunt over the years:
Ellevest is an investing platform specifically designed for women.
Rally Rd allows you to trade shares in classic cars, just like the stock market.
MoneyMade compares investment opportunities from real estate, farmland, stocks and more.
Selma personalizes investments based on your internet browsing history.
Richie Invest allows you to invest with a group of friends.
Investors Club gives you private access to buy proven and growing online businesses that aren’t listed anywhere else.
Public.com is a direct competitor to Robinhood with its commission-free trading.
Human IPO is a marketplace to invest directly in people.
Republic allows anyone to be an angel investor from as little as $10, no accreditation needed.
If you’re new to investing, don’t bet the farm and do your research in advance. 🙂
Robinhood first launched on Product Hunt 6 years ago allowing users to invest in individual stocks with $0% commission. Many community members called for more international options:
“Germany is calling for Robinhood, too!”- Patrick
“Is there any chance that Robinhood will be available in the UK?”- James
Since then, Robinhood has expanded its empire and is now available in the UK as well as the US.
There are of course lots of ways to invest online. Here are some alternatives that have launched on Product Hunt over the years:
Ellevest is an investing platform specifically designed for women.
Rally Rd allows you to trade shares in classic cars, just like the stock market.
MoneyMade compares investment opportunities from real estate, farmland, stocks and more.
Selma personalizes investments based on your internet browsing history.
Richie Invest allows you to invest with a group of friends.
Investors Club gives you private access to buy proven and growing online businesses that aren’t listed anywhere else.
Public.com is a direct competitor to Robinhood with its commission-free trading.
Human IPO is a marketplace to invest directly in people.
Republic allows anyone to be an angel investor from as little as $10, no accreditation needed.
If you’re new to investing, don’t bet the farm and do your research in advance. 🙂
Robot Music Videos
Syqel launched over the weekend to bring your music to life visually. Simply open your browser to Syqel and start playing music (or sing into your mic). The results can be hypnotic.
The community’s sentiment was overall positive:
“This is going to make DJ streams so much better” - David
“We're about to have a virtual happy hour next week and this is exactly what we need!" - Jun
“I just streamed this to my TV - the 4K visuals really stand out” - Ramero
We’ve seen a number of creative, music products launch on Product Hunt over the years:
Thundr syncs your Spotify music to LIFX LED Wi-Fi lights. The lights change color to the beat of the music.
Cmd fm is radio for geeks, controlled via a command line interface
Graphic Foundry iis similar to Syqel but built for artists to be shared on YouTube.
Song Reader makes it easy to create short music visuals to share on social media.
Cyanite visualizes the emotions in music using AI so you can choose a playlist to match your mood.
Lalal AI splits any song into vocal and instrumental tracks.
JazzKeys is a writing tool that turns your words into jazz music (we know... weird).
The community’s sentiment was overall positive:
“This is going to make DJ streams so much better” - David
“We're about to have a virtual happy hour next week and this is exactly what we need!" - Jun
“I just streamed this to my TV - the 4K visuals really stand out” - Ramero
We’ve seen a number of creative, music products launch on Product Hunt over the years:
Thundr syncs your Spotify music to LIFX LED Wi-Fi lights. The lights change color to the beat of the music.
Cmd fm is radio for geeks, controlled via a command line interface
Graphic Foundry iis similar to Syqel but built for artists to be shared on YouTube.
Song Reader makes it easy to create short music visuals to share on social media.
Cyanite visualizes the emotions in music using AI so you can choose a playlist to match your mood.
Lalal AI splits any song into vocal and instrumental tracks.
JazzKeys is a writing tool that turns your words into jazz music (we know... weird).
