What makes a Product Hunt launch actually successful?

I just launched a product on Product Hunt for the first time, and it made me realize how little I actually understood about launching on PH.

There are obviously things like upvotes and leaderboard position, but I'm starting to think those aren't necessarily the most important indicators.

For makers who've launched here before:

What actually made a difference for your launch?

I'm particularly curious about things like:

• Did comments matter more than you expected?

• How did you get your first genuinely interested users?

• Did you focus on the leaderboard or ignore it?

• What did you do during the first few hours that you would repeat?

• What's one thing you would do differently if you launched again?

I'd love to hear actual experiences rather than generic launch advice.

I'm launching for the first time today, so I'm going to take notes from this thread and see what actually happens. 😄

Makers who've been through it: what worked for you?