Starting my Product Hunt hunter journey
I decided to become a hunter to give visibility to builders who can't pay for it.
If you think about it, Product Hunt is a platform where you trade time and feedback for visibility and feedback. And that's huuuuge for people who can't buy visibility but can invest their time.
I was in this case when I built Mailwarm (YC S20). Product Hunt helped us validate and find new customers. We went from $3K MRR to $8K MRR during launch week. That's when I understood how big PH can be for founders with no marketing budget.
Recently I started a builder community focused on Moroccans. I understood that building is not a problem anymore. The bottleneck is go-to-market.
We did workshops about ads, and understood that no one has money to pay.
We did workshops about SEO, and understood that 3 months is too long to validate an idea.
Product Hunt felt like a lottery ticket.
From the community: @JumprAI launched. @Crossnode launched. I launched @ProdShort .
So I decided to become a hunter, and I will never charge for it.
My rules:
Max 2 hunts per week
A call with every maker
Check and give feedback on the PH submission
Share the launch on my social media
Tomorrow I hunt my first product.
Two questions:
If you launched before, what do you expect from a hunter?
If you are a hunter, what did you learn? What mistakes should I avoid?
Replies
mailX by mailwarm
let's go, love this for you Bengeekly, completely agree with what Thami and Casey said, hunters really help sharpen the positioning and help with the launch, the pressure test and reality check is real. I spoke with a few hunters and they did give real good feedback on the product, so before i could go live with my PH and general launch it's been helpful.
mailX by mailwarm
Love this perspective! Especially the idea that a good hunter is not just a distribution channel.
From a founder perspective, I’d want a hunter to help pressure-test the story before launch: is the positioning clear, does the product promise make sense in one sentence, and would PH users immediately understand why it matters?
I’m building Traction by Tightrope Studio right now, and this is exactly the part I keep thinking about. Building is getting easier, but turning a product into something people understand, trust, and actually act on is still the hard part.
If I were working with a hunter, I’d value honest feedback before launch more than just extra visibility on launch day. Curious, when you review a product before hunting it, what’s the biggest red flag that tells you it’s not ready yet?
mailX by mailwarm
@bengeekly that’s such a good point, and honestly, probably the kind of feedback most founders need but don’t always want to hear at first.
The image point is especially helpful. I’ve definitely noticed how often product screenshots look great to the maker but are almost impossible to understand in a PH feed. Big titles + a clear use case probably matter more than showing the entire UI.
And agreed on headlines. That balance between clear enough to understand and interesting enough to click is hard. I’m learning that “explain everything” usually makes the message weaker, not stronger.
Appreciate the honest answer, this is exactly the kind of pre-launch feedback I’d want from a hunter.
mailX by mailwarm
Super cool initiative! I've launched a few times on PH before...hunters who hopped on a quick feedback call and shared on social made a huge difference. Avoid over-hunting too soon to keep quality high.
Btw, gearing up for The Sponge...an AI flashcard app that turns webpages into study material with spaced repetition. If you're up for it, would appreciate a follow (see "PRODUCT HUNT LAUNCH" link in my profile).
mailX by mailwarm