Product hunt launch

Product Hunt Launch

Product Hunt launches are won by clarity and momentum, and lost by buzzword taglines and a maker who is asleep during the first hour. The ranking algorithm rewards early engagement velocity - comments and maker activity more than raw vote count - so the copy assets and the first-hour plan are one deliverable, not two. This skill produces both.

Operating procedure

Copy before mechanics: the tagline and maker comment need iteration time, and the first-hour plan depends on assets being frozen.

Step 1: Gather inputs

1. Product name, what it does in one sentence, and the launch URL.
2. The core differentiator and the target user.
3. One real proof point - speed, integrations, named users. If none exists, flag it rather than inventing one.
4. The launch-day team: who is awake at 12:01am PT, and who covers the morning.
5. Warm supporters - people who genuinely use the product and would comment.

Step 2: Find the lead

Identify the single most surprising or delightful capability. That is the lead for every asset. If the team cannot name one, the launch is premature.

Step 3: Write the tagline (max 60 chars)

• State the outcome, not the mechanism: "Ship docs in minutes, not days" beats "AI-powered documentation engine."
• No buzzwords - revolutionary, seamless, next-gen all read as filler.
• Use a concrete verb; test by reading aloud to a stranger.
• Deliver 5 options ranked, with a one-line rationale for the top pick.

Step 4: Write the description (260 chars on the card)

• Sentence 1: who it is for and the problem.
• Sentence 2: what it does differently.
• Sentence 3: one proof point.
• End with momentum, not a period of doubt.

Step 5: Write the first maker comment

The most important asset on the page. Structure:

• Hook: the personal frustration that started this - one or two sentences, real.
• What it does: 3 bullet points, benefit-led.
• What makes it different: one honest paragraph that acknowledges the competition.
• The ask: invite feedback explicitly - "Roast our onboarding" gets replies; "check us out" gets silence.
• Offer: a launch-day perk if one exists.

It must sound like a person typed it at midnight, excited and a little nervous.

Step 6: Prepare the reply playbook

Five templated-but-warm replies for the predictable threads:

• "How is this different from [competitor]?" - answer with a specific, not a brag.
• "Is there a free tier?" - answer plainly.
• "Congrats!" - thank by name, then ask a follow-up question to keep the thread alive; threads beat raw votes.
• Feature requests - "Added to the board - want a ping when it ships?"
• Skeptics - agree with the valid part first, then clarify.

Step 7: Set the mechanics

• Timing: launch at 12:01am PT - the daily clock resets then, and a full 24 hours beats a partial day. Tuesday-Thursday has the most traffic and the most competition; Sunday-Monday has less of both. Default to Tuesday-Thursday if the product can compete on merit; pick the quieter days if the goal is a badge and a backlink rather than a traffic spike.
• Hunter: a hunter with a large following no longer moves ranking materially - self-hunting is fine and keeps you in control of timing. Use an external hunter only if they genuinely love the product and will engage in comments; never pay for hunting.
• First-hour momentum: line up the first 10 comments from people who already use and love the product, briefed to comment (not just vote) within the first 60 minutes. The first hour's velocity heavily shapes the day's trajectory.
• Comment-response cadence: reply to every comment within 15 minutes for the first 4 hours, then hold a 30-minute maximum through the day. Maker responsiveness is a ranking input and a social proof display at once.
• Never ask for upvotes directly - it violates PH rules, and vote-ring patterns get launches penalized. Ask for feedback; votes follow.

Worked artifact: first-hours timeline

12:01am PT  Post live. Maker verifies the page renders logged-out.
12:03am     First maker comment posted (pre-written, Step 5).
12:05-1:00  The 10 warm supporters comment; maker replies to each within 15 min.
1:00-4:00   Reply cadence <=15 min. No new copy written - respond, don't rewrite.
6:00-9:00am US morning surge: repost energy into replies; deploy reply playbook.
All day     Cadence <=30 min. Screenshot rank milestones for social proof.

Bad tagline: "Next-gen AI-powered seamless documentation platform" (mechanism, three buzzwords, no outcome). Good tagline: "Ship your docs in minutes, not days" (outcome, concrete verb, 36 chars).

Deliverable

Deliver the full launch package: 5 ranked taglines with rationale for the top pick, 1 card description, 1 first maker comment, the 5 reply templates, and the mechanics sheet - launch day and time, hunter decision, the named first-10 commenter list, and the reply-cadence commitments. Flag every asset that needs a real metric the team does not yet have.

Do NOT

• Do not ask for upvotes, anywhere, ever - coordinated voting patterns get launches penalized, and the ask reads as desperate.
• Do not lead with the mechanism; buyers upvote outcomes.
• Do not launch mid-day - you forfeit hours of the 24-hour window.
• Do not pay a hunter or pick one who has never used the product; an absent hunter is worse than self-hunting.
• Do not write new copy on launch day; every asset is frozen before 12:01am, and launch-day energy goes into replies.
• Do not let a comment sit unanswered for over 30 minutes during the day - dead threads read as a dead product.

Quality bar

• Every asset passes the screenshot test: a stranger understands it with zero other context.
• Every adjective that is not doing work is cut.
• The tagline is 60 characters or fewer, outcome-first, buzzword-free.
• The maker comment names the competition honestly and ends with a specific ask.
• The mechanics sheet names real people for the first 10 comments - "we'll find some" does not ship.