Post-launch: When you’re not in the top 10 but didn’t do that bad either

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Yesterday, we launched NiceJourney and ended up at #23!

Not bad, not great, just somewhere in that weird middle zone.

And honestly, today we’re not sure how to feel about it.

Most people prepare for two scenarios:
Either “we’ll crush it” or “we’ll flop.”
But what about everything in between? What happens when you do "just fine?"

Here’s what we learned: connections matter.
Almost all of our upvotes came from people we’ve connected with here on PH and on LinkedIn: makers we chatted with, commented on, and supported. That sense of community really does make a difference.

So we’ll keep going: listening to feedback, showing up here, and improving what we built. Slowly but consistently.

If you’ve ever landed somewhere in the “middle” after your launch, how did you handle it?
What did you do next to keep the momentum alive?

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Hi I would say this just means your product was good but your community engagement was good not the best!

This is an easily solvable situation and just need more hours put into community work.

Your next launch on PH would be amazing! :)

 Aww, thank you!

Yes, we'll certainly work more to build a solid community!

sent you a LinkedIn request.. lets learn from each other.. I’m also trying to build a community these days (my own launch is tomorrow)

 just saw your request and accepted it!

I'm very happy to connect and keep in touch on LinkedIn.

Hope your launch went well!

I think that your presence on this platform made you more visible. You can use this personal presence on other social media too to talk about the product which can bring you traffic and paying users too. :)

 Thanks for the suggestion!

My partner is actually already doing it on LinkedIn. We tried to split the work because sometimes, it's really hard to keep track of all the social media accounts, be there, answer and comment, and all that stuff.

Probably this is the hardest part of the job ahah

 You finally know how I feel lol :D

Being #23 makes you better than those who did not show up here ♥️ Maybe we should talk if you plan a launch 2.0 🥂

 Thank you very much for your kind words!

We're not thinking about doing a second launch soon, but I'll definitely text you if that happens :)

Wishing you lots of success🥂 It is my pleasure✨

we're launching in 2 weeks too... keep your advice in mind... connection is everything here :)

 Good luck with your launch! Yes, making solid connections is certainly essential, especially if it's your first launch. Is it?

 yep... it's the first one.

 Good luck!! What are you launching?

 It's an AI Chat widget for tech products. ( )

I think I should schedule the launch now and then just keep building the connections.

You're right about connections __ genuine engagement before launch makes a massive difference 💬

I’m just starting to build my community here on PH, and I’m planning to launch an agent soon. Seeing your approach makes me realize how much showing up, engaging, and connecting with other makers really matters. Definitely taking notes for my own launch! #23 is not bad, put effort in your post-launch and you would definitely get the results you wish 😊

 Thank you very much :)

Yes, engaging and connecting are certainly fundamental for your launch.

Glad to hear that my approach sparked some ideas!

Thank you for sharing your experience! Also looking at launching on PH and it's pretty intimidating if you want to break through the noise! Following thought leaders here but still mostly reading and upvoting and figuring it out! I think I'd be pretty psyched on #23! Congrats!

 Thank you!

I also spent a lot of time figuring out how Ph works ahaha

And yes, launching can be intimidating, especially because there are also some pretty famous start-ups that, from time to time, launch here, and competing with them just seems impossible.

But I think it's important to try anyway and see how it goes (you can always launch again) :)