We kept our product free for the first six months just to get people through the door. Word of mouth was great, signups were steady, and everyone seemed happy.

But the week we finally introduced a basic subscription plan acquisition dropped so fast it felt like hitting a brick wall. People who used to experiment freely suddenly turned super skeptical the second credit cards got involved.

For those who went through this how long did it take for your signup numbers to normalize after adding that initial price tag?

Building a startup is hard. Proving you exist to an algorithm is apparently harder.

I'm a solo founder building an iOS social app. Somewhere between shipping the product, finding users, fundraising, and maintaining LinkedIn, Product Hunt and a dozen other channels, being a founder has turned into a full-time job in being visible.

And here's the irony: my LinkedIn account is restricted, while its identity-verification flow keeps sending me in circles. My passport is a valid identity document, but the automated process hasn't given me a workable way to complete verification or reach a meaningful human review.

The issue isn't whether I can prove who I am. It's whether the system accepts the document I actually have.

I deleted something last year. Took it out of the product entirely, removed the menu item, wrote a short note explaining why, and braced for the complaints.

They never came. What came instead was a slow trickle of messages from people saying the product finally felt clear.

I counted mine for a recent freelance project:

A Google Doc for the proposal, exported to PDF

An e-sign tool for the contract

I'm interested in knowing what approaches indie developers and Makers use when getting ready for the final preparation step before submitting their iOS app to Apple for App Store Review.

I'm currently working on my own app, Lina, a task management tool that automatically arranges tasks by their priority and dependencies and uses notifications to help users stick to schedule.

And while preparing my app for submission, I've noticed that reviewing only the App Store Review Guidelines is not enough. There are lots of details that may easily get overlooked.

And if you've launched any iOS apps, I'd be interested in learning your workflows.

Most products lose people in the first 60 seconds, here's where

I'm a UX designer who lives in the first run of products, the moment right after signup, where most activation is won or lost. Four leaks I see over and over, with cheap fixes:

• Show value before the wall, don't ask for trust (signup, permissions) before showing anything.

• Treat the empty state as a first impression, zeros and blank charts read as "broken," not "new."

• Ask for heavy permissions when they're needed, not all up front.

• Don't let the paywall and the payoff land at the same moment.

For those who've launched: where do people actually drop off in your first session?

Early on, marketing is just as important as building the product, especially if you want a successful launch.

Some say the fit in Product-Market Fit is really about marketing. I tend to agree.
For me, when I founded my first company, I was more comfortable writing code than copywriting. When I started trying to sell the first product I developed, I realised just how much I didn t know about Go-To-Market (GTM) and marketing.
I ve tried everything from cold outreach to reading all the books I could find. After my second company failed, I actually went back to being an operator and only took "business" roles to try and learn as much as possible from doing.

So, if you don t have an MBA or business background, how are you tackling this side of things?

Are you talking to mentors, reading books, taking online courses, using LLMs, or something else entirely?

I m not a professional copywriter. I use AI to draft emails, newsletters, and social media posts in seconds. It s a massive time-saver, but it has one quiet risk: it all starts sounding the same.

A few weeks ago, I sent out a feedback email generated by AI. It read smoothly and looked professional on the first read. A day later, a client replied saying, "Did an algorithm write this? It doesn't sound like you at all." The words were grammatically correct, but the soul and voice were completely missing.

It made me wonder if we are trading our authentic voice for robotic perfection just because the grammar is clean.

How do you check AI-written copy before hitting send? Do you rewrite sections manually, run it through humanizers, or just accept the generic tone? And has an AI-written message ever backfired on you because it lacked a personal touch?

I m not an expert researcher, but I use AI daily to pull summaries, market trends, and quick facts for my projects. It s lightning-fast, but it has one terrifying flaw: it sounds just as confident when it s completely wrong.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article using statistics an AI gave me about a local market growth. It looked solid and cited plausible-sounding sources. Right before publishing, a colleague pointed out that one of the core numbers was entirely fabricated by the model. On the surface, the prose was flawless, so I almost missed it.

It made me wonder if we are trusting AI-generated insights too easily just because the writing sounds professional.

How do you verify facts and data when AI hands them to you?
Do you cross-reference multiple tools, ask it for actual links, or just trust your gut? And has a fact-checked AI response ever turned out to be completely made up for you?

Product Hunt has teamed up with OpenAI Developers to launch the GPT-6 Astra Challenge!
@OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra is built for complex, multi-step work from software engineering and research to workflows that require judgment and follow-through.
Build something useful with Astra, launch it on Product Hunt, and compete for API credits and ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.
If you re already building with Astra, this is a chance to share what you ve made and put it in front of a wider audience. You can schedule your launch for Friday, September 18.
Here's everything you need to get started:

• Schedule your launch: https://www.producthunt.com/cont...

• GPT-6 Astra Challenge Launch Guide: https://producthunt.s.gy/forum-a...

• GPT-6 Astra Model Guide: https://developers.openai.com/ap...

• GPT-6 Astra API Docs: https://developers.openai.com/ap...

• OpenAI Demo Showcase: https://developers.openai.com/sh...

• OpenAI Discord: https://discord.gg/openai

This is the perfect time to actually build on those crazy ideas you've been sitting on.... or resurrect one of your "ongoing" side projects.