Launch on Product Hunt, Hacker News and Reddit
Run a controlled launch on Product Hunt, Hacker News and Reddit with each platform’s written rules and unwritten norms respected, from assets and copy prepared in advance through day-of monitoring to an honest accounting of what the spike converted into.
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Who it's for
Indie makers and small teams with something shippable and no audience, including those who launched once, saw a spike and no customers, and want to understand why.
About this playbook
This guide is the mechanics behind a launch where indie products actually get their first users. You prepare the Product Hunt page to spec, a Show HN that can be tried immediately, and subreddit-specific posts that pass each community’s own rules. You choose when to go live for a reason, work the first hours properly without vote manipulation, and keep the product and support ready for a spike. It does not cover audience discovery or message creation from scratch and it will not turn a launch into a growth channel — it shows what each platform can and cannot do and how to turn attention into durable learning.
What you'll do, step by stepFree preview
Only a sample is open: 3 of 17 steps can be read in full. The rest unlock when you buy.
Phase 1: Confirm eligibility and readiness for each platform
3 stepsPhase 2: Prepare profiles, assets and measurement
4 stepsPhase 3: Schedule and publish without violating promotion rules
5 stepsPhase 4: Work the first hours on each platform
3 stepsPhase 5: Reconcile results and decide next steps
2 steps
Details
What you need first
A live product at a direct URL, a core action a new user can try, an owner who can monitor public threads for a full day, and basic analytics and billing in place. If YC-funded, confirm whether the separate Launch HN process applies.
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