How we hit Product Hunt đand got tons of traffic đ
More than 3k documents were drafted with AXDRAFT and we gained our #2 Product of the Week with over 1,7K votes.
We are ready to share the tips and tricks on a successful launch in March 2019 while being in the Y Combinator accelerator program.
âDraft any of 6 most commonly used contracts for startups in few minutes by answering simple questions. No registration required. Used by YC companiesâŠâ
This is our elevator pitch, we used for the launch on Product Hunt in March 2019. More than 3k documents were drafted with AXDRAFT and we gained our #2 Product of the Week with over 1K votes.
It was a great experience for us and we are more than happy to share it with you.
What is Product Hunt?
PH is a website that lets users share and discover new products. It was founded by Ryan Hoover in 2013 and is backed by Y Combinator. Itâs incredible that everyone could submit on PH for free. Many tech companies have used PH as a launching pad. The site has a lot of followers, including key tech influencers, celebrities, reporters, and venture capitalists. This is a great place for customers to discover new useful products and services due to well-curated products and this is a perfect place for startups to launch their products.
To put it simply, Product Hunt is like a reddit for products.
What to do before launch?
To get yourself ready for launch, you should read the article written by Product Hunt people. This article covers the main milestones in the launching process: (1) how to launch on PH; (2) key things to focus on; (3) what to avoid; (4) how to prepare in advance; (5) how to market your product.
How did we prepare?
- Find a Hunter: we were lucky enough to have Kat Manalac (Partner, Y Combinator) who helped us getting posted and receiving the first upvotes. To find a hunter, visit this website: https://yvoschaap.com/producthunt/#hunt. You can follow and message them directly there. Then ask kindly (but directly) if that person might be interested in hunting the product. Keep things polite and brief. You can launch without a hunter, but the main advantage of getting their help is that all followers of that hunter will receive a notification in PH about your launch.
- Prepare materials for the launch: we did our homework and analyzed the products that have done a great job with their launch earlier. We have noticed three things in common: (1) GIF, (2) vivid video, and (3) clear elevator pitch (your business value proposition). We did it and it worked great! You can check it out on the Product Hunt website. It simply sparks joy!
When do you post on Product Hunt?
The race starts PST 00:00 and finishes PST 23:59. According to Popsters, Sunday between 00:00 and 01:00 AM appears to be the best time for posting on PH if you consider both chances to climb higher in the ranking and the upvotes count. At the opposite end, the worst days to publish are Wednesday and Thursday. We have not seen the results of the Popsterâs researches and have launched on Wednesday - March 6, 2019. It worked great for us. But, who knows what the results could be if we had this information before. Having this information in place, you may decide when to launch your product to get to the top and gain the best results.
Do you need to let people know that you are on PH?
Yes! You definitely want to share the fact with the world and ask for feedback. PH people donât allow asking for upvotes, but itâs okay to ask your team and a few friends to support your product. It will help you get listed in the top of the list. Your main goal is to get into top-5 products of the day as fast as possible and stay there.
Here are the channels we used when we shared the information about our PH launch:
- Y Combinator - Startup School Forum;
- LinkedIn;
- Twitter;
- Slack channels of different startup groups;
- Facebook groups (there are many PH and startup related groups);
- Email to all current users;
- Hacker News;
- Reddit;
- Quora.
Those initial upvotes helped us reach the top, but we did not manage to stay there the whole day. PH algorithm does not like aggressive upvote generation and votes of brand new users. It exactly what happened to us. When we launched- too many people who have never been active users of PH wanted to support us and upvoted the product. An aggressive upvote resulted in losing our #1 Product of the day (we held the position for about 10h). Do not repeat this mistake, do not overdo it. Make sure you can have qualified upvotes. Another problem that contributed to this result was that people were actively voting for our product for 24 hours since we operate in Ukraine and California, which are 10 hours apart. PH ranking algorithm seems to be fined for that too.
What should I do with the comments?
Answer all of them and start the discussion. That night our team did not have a chance to fall asleep. The users were asking us dozens of questions, we were receiving a lot of reviews and comments and we wanted to make sure that no one was left without our attention. In our opinion, this is the most important part of the whole PH launch. So get yourself some coffee and be ready to play a «feedback ping pong».
What are the results can I expect?
Launching on PH was one of the best experiences weâve ever had. We worked hard, made some mistakes, but gained the best - validation of the product, tons of traffic, active users, experience and a small reward - #2 Product of the Week.
If youâre still thinking about whether to launch, do not do it anymore, just launch! We wish you the best results!
Inside: Weâre Excited to Announce that Weâre Rebranding to Avodocs. We want to separate a platfrom with free legal document from our core product (document automation solution). By our new name, we encourage you to avoid googling for templates, wasting time on legal matter and paying high lawyerâs fee. See updated site this Thursday.
AXDRAFT Team with love đ
