General
Share and discuss tech, products, business, startups, or product recommendations
Start new thread

When is the right time to launch on Product Hunt?

by
•

Because building products has become much more accessible thanks to AI, the bar has had to rise a bit, or at least the expectations have become stricter.

I built – SafeLimit, but personally, I wouldn’t launch it on Product Hunt yet because it’s still very basic and doesn’t even have a website. 😀

Personally, I wouldn’t use Product Hunt only to validate an idea or a problem anymore.

I would feel ready to launch once I reached these points:

– the product works with its core features (it doesn't break)
– it has been properly tested by developers, UX/UI testers, and a few potential users (with bugs fixed)
– it has its own landing page explaining the product
– it already has a version with payments integrated
– it follows Product Hunt’s launch and community guidelines (novelty, uniqueness, etc.)
– it has a small but engaged user base that can support the launch with comments or reviews (social proof)

When would you personally feel ready to launch on Product Hunt?

What would be your minimum requirements?

12K views

Add a comment

Replies

Best

That's a good question we have been wrestling with. Some companies launch often, every time they have a new update, but those are usually established products. I have seen people post "join our beta tester" products that don't even have a finished product yet, which raises awareness but is not as satisfying as a user, when you realize there is nothing there yet. I think you should launch when you feel like there is something for users to test. The more feedback from real users you get, the better your product will become.

 I definitely do not want to make a bad impression with the unfinished project. That's why I would at least polish the current free version.

 as long as you don't wait too long ;-). The danger is craving perfection, and by the time you ship, someone else has done it.

 True, Rather done than perfect :D

I think as long as the product is clear and functional enough that people can actually get value from it, I'd say that's good enough to launch. There will always be more features to add, more bugs to fix, so technically there isn't a best time to launch! The next best time is now! But I am intending to launch my own product on 4th August! Look forward to seeing your launch!

 Feel free to message me on LinkedIn on launch day, so I can support you :)

 Hahah! Alright, will do so, thanks!

The lead time point is the one nobody wants to hear because it means there's no shortcut for a launch weeks out. Been doing the boring version of this for a while now, upvoting and commenting on other launches with zero ask attached, and it's slow in a way that's hard to fake or compress.

 It is one of the ways :)

I feel today/now is the right time to launch a product.

Ofcourse the product should be usable by the end users publicly bug free while delivering what product is trying to deliver.

But not launching it and waiting for a moment like let me build traction first, let me build campaign first, do this and do that is something i feel will always keep you in that "waiting room".

Yes, for certain product it is needed and there are exceptions !

For me, i was like stuck in waiting room and today decided to launch my first very very small product that came from my own personal problem.



There is so much more improvement needed but not launching it will always keep me waiting. And guess what i got showered with love 80+ upvotes for a first time product builder is motivating.

Grateful.

 Wow, I am gonna support you! :)

i wonder if a hybrid approach could work well. Use local models by default and only fall back to cloud AI for the more complex tasks.

 So in my case... what would you delegate on AI? :) So I can execute it now and be faster :)

I used to say the best day to launch is Friday or Monday as people are still active but the competition isn't as hard as on Tue-Thu. But... having launched today (Friday) and trying hard to keep #3 Product of the Day, I can say the competition has become much tougher over the years and even on Friday it's very hard. You need to have a lot of exposure and to have a network of other makers and founders beforehand...

 PH raised the bar; the very first step to success is being featured. So the product itself needs to be very good.

 I agree! And it needs to be not only good, but to match what a good and useful product on PH is. We have always come with niche products (translation & localization), and I was kind of disappointed when our QACAT platform wasn't featured - it is a really good and useful product, but maybe we didn't manage to show its technical side clearly.
Yesterday our translation platform Nitro was featured - and I think it was because the new feature was agentic flow for payments, it's a new thing in tech and quite interesting.

There is no greater time - every minute matters - so just launch it and if it doesn't get that much attention, take your time - grow your audience and then relaunch it

 I would like to integrate 2 more things into my tool (onboarding process – carousel onboarding) and form when they uninstall so I can know the reason why. + website :)

 True — launch, learn, then relaunch stronger later.

   First launch here should be about gaining followers on the PH page as well.

my rule after burning a couple of launches. dont launch when the product is ready. launch when the first ten users you did not know before could describe it to their friend in one sentence without your help.

ready is a founder feeling. launchable is a user signal. if strangers cant repeat the pitch back to you after a demo you dont have a launch you have a first draft.

 I already have my first 35 active users. Is it enough? :)

 Launchable is a user signal — brilliantly put.

   TBH, I will just create a website and probably launch here. Meanwhile will be building features for the PRO version. :)

Great question. I know I tend to launch too early.

Usually it’s because I’m excited about the idea, but that often means launching when the website is just “good enough,” the use cases are still limited, and I should probably be focusing on something else instead.

I’m aware I do this, though, so I’m not particularly surprised when the results are modest (:

That said, I’m increasingly more interested in finding a few direct customers than in reaching the large audience Product Hunt could potentially offer. Partly because of the competition, and partly because I don’t have a big following to bring to a launch.

 How do you make yourself stop being too excited? :D

 I don't.
But again, I'm probably not the best person to learn launch strategy from!

 Maybe I should learn a bit from you. Because I overthink too much. I need more action than thinking about polishing the thing :)

 Direct customers over big audience is underrated.

 I think it makes sense to do it in steps. A big audience probably makes more sense once the product has already been used and validated by a smaller group.

The other thing I learned a little late is to start by building something one or two real clients actually need, then expand from there.

The difference between having one or two customers and having zero is huge.

I I personally think that I will post on Tuesday or Wednesday, because Generally a lot of people were relaxing on Sunday. and on work days we will have more attention to check on lots of new products. My thoughts.

 Are you okay with huge competition tho? What do you want to launch?

 Midweek timing does seem to catch more eyes.

   I would probably do the 2nd launch on a midweek (when I integrate the payment). :)

First
Previous
•••
345
•••
Next