My First SaaS Launch Just Failed (Or not?)
After building and launching 4 B2C macOS apps, I decided to release one of our internal tools that helps us evaluate and track marketing channels.
Days of preparing for the launch, setting up onboarding, landing page, redesigning the dashboard, testing, and more.
Converting an internal tool built for our needs into a standalone product is not as straightforward as you might think.
The deadline was set.
Monday 20th of Jul.
I announced hackathon weekend: finish the launch checklist no matter what.

Time was running out.
Sunday came with half the list still to do.
After a full day and a half night, working almost non-stop, at 2:00 everything was done.
Launch Day
Woke up ready to send the launch link for everyone I know,
Upvotes started to go up,
But halfway into the day, the picture began to reveal itself.
We are not going to finish in the top 10, and even worse, only 2 signups for our new product.

Final score π₯²
350 Visitors, 2 signups, endless disappointment.
BUT here is the plot twist π
What if the goal for this launch wasn't customers?
Launching a new SaaS product on Product Hunt that targets B2B, with subscription payments and no initial customers or community, hoping for customers is the longest long shot a builder can take.
And I know it already.
This is not my first B2B startup,
I already built a company that reached 30K MRR before and sold it to a big public company in an 8-figure deal.
We didn't launch that product on Product Hunt at all, no Ads or hundreds of dollars of cold email campaigns.
It was raw, door-by-door, month-to-month, attending conferences, SEO, and more real, physical-world marketing.
This is how I know to market B2B products.
So why launch LnkFlow on Product Hunt when I know it will probably lead to nothing?
Because I wanted to run a real-life test of how our new product can help me, and others, find the marketing channels that really work!
Set Up the Scene
We started this launch by finding a few influencers to help us gain more exposure for the launch page and product page.
Each one should get 2 links, one for our homepage and one for our Product Hunt launch.
So the first challenge was ready: how to create this campaign and all the links for each one of them fast.
The answer: LnkFlow MCP integration π€©

2 prompts, and done.
The campaign was created, the influencer was created with all the needed metadata, links were generated, and I got a file ready to send.
And I felt just like I want our future customers to feel.
Using this method, we generated all the necessary links for this launch and started putting them everywhere we could.
Each channel had its own subdomain, so it was super easy to track everything and see it all in a clean way.
Getting the results
After a few hours, we already started to get valuable data.

Some promising cooperation brought ZERO clicks.
Literally ZERO.
Something that we didn't have any way to know before.
Some channels worked very well, but the funniest one was one of our Reddit posts.
We got zero comments or upvotes, but thanks to the tracking link we were able to write this comment:

And get some feedback back π
The long tail effect
Another perk of using LnkFlow is that we can see how the link performs over time. Even on non-launch days, I can see clicks, and over the long run I will be able to get a better understanding of channel performance.

So what now?
Now it's time to real B2B marketing.
What worked for us on our B2C apps will not work on this one.
This required a different approach, but one I already know.
Just need to remove some rust π
I will share more here, but to provide interesting content, I need to grow my business through real marketing channels.
The REAL work just began.
Let's go π


Replies
WebCurate.co
I don't think that's a failure at all. PH is just one channel, what's important is taking those insights and doubling down on the channels that actually bring qualified users. All the bestwith the next phase!
ExtraBar
@hosseinyazdiΒ I know π
Buffup.AI
Has this launch changed how you think about Product Hunt, or would you still use it again for another B2B product?
ExtraBar
@sansa_greyΒ Probably yes,
There is no bad exposure here.
Promomix
The internal tool to SaaS transition is probably more difficult than people realize. What was the biggest unexpected challenge during that transformation?
Bababot
I love the honesty here. No pretending that a launch with 2 signups was secretly a massive success. Sometimes the real win is learning what to stop doing.
I have seen many founders call this a failure, but honestly, you discovered exactly where your traffic came from. Thatβs useful data.
I really liked the Reddit example. Zero engagement, but the tracking link still created an opportunity for feedback. Thatβs clever.
ExtraBar
@aleksander_brousseauΒ Yes it was nice π
Have you already identified one channel that looks promising enough to focus on for the next 30 days?
ExtraBar
@ashir_murtaza1Β This was mostly for the test flight.
We are using our tool every day on different types of channels that we have, and it's already helped us focus our budgets on the right places π
The long-tail tracking idea is underrated. A channel that looks weak today might become one of your best acquisition sources over time.
Dial
the zero-click influencer cooperation is the real finding here, not the 2 signups. most people would never find that out because they'd just see "we got some exposure" and move on. knowing which channel is dead weight before you spend more time on it is worth more than the launch traffic itself.
This is honestly one of the most refreshing launch posts I've read. The honesty about 350 visitors β 2 signups, and then the plot twist of reframing it as a product validation test for LnkFlow itself β that's brilliant.
A few things that really stood out to me:
π― Using your own product as the hero β The fact that you used LnkFlow's tracking to discover which channels worked (and which didn't) is way more convincing than any marketing copy. You're eating your own dog food in real-time.
π‘ The Reddit zero-engagement example β That's gold. Most people would see zero upvotes and think "this channel sucks." You used the tracking data to prove otherwise. That's the difference between guessing and knowing.
π The internal tool β SaaS transition β I'm going through something similar with my own project (a free party game I just launched today on PH). The challenge of taking something that works internally and making it work for strangers is real.
One question: Now that you know which channels delivered value, are you planning to double down on those specific ones for your B2B push, or will you test new channels too?
Also curious β would you recommend PH as a learning/feedback channel even if you don't expect direct signups? I'm on day 1 of my own launch and trying to calibrate expectations.
Thanks for sharing this so openly! The "plot twist" framing is perfect. π