When I first launched on Product Hunt, I had no idea what to expect. I wasn t sure anyone would notice our little startup, and honestly, I felt intimidated. Everyone seemed so established, and I didn t know where I fit in.
But then something incredible happened. A kind comment from @aaronoleary. Encouragement from the PH community. Support from the Product Hunt team when we ran into issues. A hunt from @benln. A thoughtful reply from @rajiv_ayyangar himself.
That first launch became Product of the Day.
We were later nominated for Product of the Year.
In 2023, I was named Community Member of the Year.
And now in 2025, I ve been invited to serve as a Product Hunt Ambassador!
Hi everyone, Gabe here! I lead curating Product Hunt's leaderboard.
First thing I will say is that if I could feature every single product that works, I would. I love supporting makers and demoing products. I actually try to test every single thing that gets hunted every day... which is A TON. But I view our job as to surface the most interesting, novel, useful, and innovative products - daily. Now we may not always get it right, the process isn't perfect, but we're trying to do right by the community.
Many of you sometimes write to me in DMs asking how to position yourself on Product Hunt.
From the question, I always get the feeling that people want to speed up the process, publish something quickly, get a high position in the ranking of launched products and a badge. But this is a long-term game.
Forget the pitch deck for a second. This is about grabbing attention fast. Share your startup in five words or less. The goal is to be clear, clever, or just bold enough to make people stop scrolling. Who knows, it could be a good marketing exercise
Product Hunt changed my life. A year ago I stepped in as CEO, and a couple weeks ago we launched Product Forums (which you're reading this on!). Before that I founded and launched @Tandem (virtual office - YC S19), and @Cryptagon.io.
Ask me anything about Product Hunt, launching, startups, YC, or what we're trying to do with forums!
Product Hunt is home to countless products and the people who love them. We built Ask to help you make sense of it all. It's an AI assistant that answers your product questions using Product Hunt data, whether you're picking a new tool, comparing alternatives, or seeing what's trending.
Every launch comes with new learnings. The platform is changing over time, but many things don t depend on the platform itself they depend on how you approach the launch: your pricing, customisation, or how early you show up, and more.
What did you learn from your launch, and what will you adjust for next time?
