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What are the secret techniques for a successful Product Hunt launch?

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Well, after this post, they probably won’t be that secret anymore. 😀

But there are still a few things not everyone knows about: 

1. Get hunted by someone with a strong audience.

Even if you already have a lot of followers yourself, getting hunted by someone who also has a strong audience can help you reach more people on launch day.

If your launch gets featured, your followers can receive notifications, as well as the followers of the hunter. So you will reach a broader audience.

2. Grow your Product Hunt page followers before launch.

Not many people use this.

Before launching, ask people to follow your Product Hunt page. When they do, they can receive a notification when you launch.

It’s a simple thing, but I rarely see makers actively doing it. 

Ideally, try to do it consistently over time, especially if you plan to relaunch in the future. 

3. Live-stream your launch.

This is still pretty rare, but I’ve seen makers do it, usually on X (e.g. Sandra did it and Max )

It can turn your launch into an event.

What other “secret” Product Hunt launch techniques do you know? 😀

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Great tips, Nika.

Having a hunter helps a lot, and so does being a maker with a big audience yourself. Getting thousands of people notified about your launch is a pretty serious advantage.

I’d add one more thing: message 10 close friends who have engaged audiences on X or LinkedIn and ask them to quote-post your launch. If you coordinate that well across X and LinkedIn, you can get a lot more eyes on the launch.

One important caveat: those friends should ideally be in tech/startups. A beauty or fitness audience won’t move the needle much.

 Does Hunters and Makers charge a fee for launching? Any idea?

 A maker is someone who build the product, part of the actual team. (a developer/CEO/marketing person etc.)

With hunters, it really depends. Some do it for free, some charge. Some have a flat fee, others take a cut of the revenue from the launch. And the scope can vary a lot too. Sometimes you’re basically just the name attached to the launch. Other times you help with distribution, give advice, or actually put together the whole launch strategy.

 Thanks that is very useful information and I am positive it will help many new product launchers.

 Good caveat and it cuts both ways too, even within tech, a quote-post from someone whose audience is mostly other founders/builders hits differently than one whose audience is your actual buyer. Founders will upvote and cheer you on but they're not always who converts.

If the product has a clear ICP, I'd rather have 2-3 quote-posts from people whose audience matches that ICP than 10 from generically "tech-adjacent" accounts smaller reach, much higher signal.

I have seen and launch in public on X with great success.

But it's hard to copy because they have a strong follower base.

     Yes, Marclou and Tibo launched the same day as minimalist phone :D I knew that I was doomed :D

Worth adding what follows from your point 2: the follower notification only fires if the launch gets featured. I launched on a Sunday and wasn't featured, so page followers did nothing for me that day. The comments were the only thing that brought anyone in.

Ha, well the secret's out now 😄

The one I'd add: keep commenting on your own thread throughout launch day, not just at the start. Momentum usually dies mid-afternoon a quick "just hit X" or answering a question that came in keeps it alive when everyone else has gone quiet.

Also: it's the notification trigger and the response to the trigger asap might help.