Launch on Product Hunt

Proof required

Submit: a screenshot of your Product Hunt listing draft (Settings → Edit listing) showing the thumbnail, tagline, description, and at least 3 gallery images in place. Include a note naming the 10 tagline variants you tested and which one you chose and why.

What gets checked

• All required assets are visible in the draft screenshot — thumbnail (square, not stretched), tagline (under 60 chars), description (under 260 chars for the above-fold preview), and at least 3 gallery images; missing any one of these means the listing is not ready
• Tagline testing evidence shows at least 10 variants — 'I wrote a tagline and it's good' does not pass; 10 variants with a stated reason for the final choice shows the founder understands that the tagline is the primary conversion lever on launch day
• Gallery images show the product in use, not the landing page — a gallery filled with marketing graphics or the product website does not show what the product actually does; at least 2 of the 3 images must show real product UI or real product output

Common mistakes

• Treating the gallery as decoration — the most common mistake on Product Hunt listings; hunters upvote products they understand quickly; a gallery that shows marketing imagery rather than the product in action loses conversion at the moment of decision; replace every marketing image with a screenshot of the actual product doing something specific and useful
• Using more than 60 characters in the tagline — Product Hunt truncates taglines in the feed view; a tagline that works at full length but reads as incomplete in the truncated view will underperform on launch day; test the tagline at exactly 60 characters or fewer
• Creating all assets in one session without testing — assets that look right to the founder often confuse target customers; show the listing draft to 5 people who match the target profile and ask 'what do you think this product does?'; if the answers vary or are wrong, the tagline and description need revision

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Open the listing draft screenshot and check all four required elements are visible — thumbnail, tagline, description, and at least 3 gallery images; if any are missing or placeholder, the assets are not ready
• Check the tagline character count — count the characters in the submitted tagline; if it is over 60, it will be truncated in the PH feed; ask the founder to confirm the count and shorten if needed
• Ask about the tagline testing — 'how did you decide on this tagline?' should produce an answer that names specific feedback from real people in the target audience; if the tagline was chosen by the founder's own preference without external testing, it has not been validated

Own a milestone like this? Submit proof and invite verifiers — sign in to get started.

Proof required

Submit: (1) a screenshot of the Product Hunt launch calendar showing your product's scheduled launch date, and (2) a supporter log with at least 20 names and contact methods (email, Slack, Discord, Twitter handle) who have explicitly agreed to upvote on launch day. The log does not need to be a spreadsheet — a screenshot of confirmation messages is acceptable.

What gets checked

• At least 20 confirmed supporters with contact details — a list of Twitter followers or newsletter subscribers who have not been personally asked does not pass; each person on the list must have been asked specifically about this launch and responded affirmatively
• Launch date is confirmed on the PH calendar — a planned date not yet submitted to Product Hunt does not pass; the product must appear on the Product Hunt coming-soon or scheduled page
• Supporters come from more than one network or community — 20 supporters all from the same group chat signal a single coordinated upvote batch, which PH's algorithm may discount; the list should include supporters from at least 2 distinct communities or channels

Common mistakes

• Selecting a launch date before building the supporter list — choosing a date before having 20 confirmed supporters creates pressure to launch before the community is ready; set a preliminary target date but do not submit it to PH until the supporter count is at least 20
• Asking supporters too early and then not following up — supporters who agree 3 weeks before launch often forget by launch day; the supporter list must include a reminder plan; collect email addresses rather than relying on DMs to send a reminder 24 hours before launch
• Treating the supporters as the ceiling rather than the floor — 20 is the milestone minimum, but top-20 products on active launch days need significantly more; aim for 50+ confirmed supporters and treat 20 as the 'launch is viable' threshold, not the target

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Open the supporter log and count distinct individuals — check that all 20 have a named contact method; a list with 20 first names and no contact details cannot be followed up on launch day and has not been genuinely confirmed
• Check network diversity — count how many distinct communities or channels the supporters come from; if more than 15 of the 20 are from a single group, ask how the founder plans to diversify before launch day
• Confirm the launch date is on the PH calendar — ask for a screenshot of the PH coming-soon page or the scheduling confirmation email; a date that has not been submitted to PH may be changed or forgotten

Own a milestone like this? Submit proof and invite verifiers — sign in to get started.

Proof required

Submit: (1) a screenshot of the Product Hunt page showing the final rank and upvote count at the end of launch day (or after 24 hours), and (2) a 200+ word post-launch review covering which outreach actions drove the most upvotes, which did not work as expected, and what you would change for a future launch.

What gets checked

• Screenshot shows the product's name, final upvote count, and ranking clearly — a screenshot taken mid-day before the final count or a screenshot where the rank is not visible does not pass; if the final rank is above 20, the outcome was not met and the post-launch review must address why
• Post-launch review covers all three questions: what drove upvotes, what did not work, and what would change — a review that only describes what happened without analysis ('we launched and got X upvotes') does not pass; the review must attribute outcomes to specific actions
• If the top-20 target was not met, the review must analyse why specifically — the post-launch review is equally valuable whether or not the ranking target was hit; an honest analysis of why the launch underperformed is more useful than a success post-mortem without lessons

Common mistakes

• Not being available for the first 4 hours of launch — founders who sleep through the 12:01am PST launch window lose the velocity window; PH's algorithm weights early upvotes heavily; the launch day requires the founder to be actively online from 12:01am to at least 4am PST or to have a co-founder covering that window
• Not responding to comments on the PH page — engagement from the maker (responding to questions, thanking upvoters, adding context) is a ranking signal and also converts interested visitors into upvoters; unresponsive PH pages rank lower than equivalent products where the maker is active
• Treating PH as the entire distribution strategy — a top-20 Product Hunt finish generates a spike of awareness but not necessarily lasting customer acquisition; the post-launch review must include a note on how the founder plans to convert PH visitors into customers, not just report the upvote count

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Open the screenshot and verify: (1) the product name matches, (2) the ranking is clearly visible, (3) the screenshot was taken after the 24-hour launch window (not mid-day); if the rank is cut off or the screenshot is partial, ask for a full-page screenshot of the PH listing
• If the product did not finish in the top 20, check whether the post-launch review addresses the gap honestly — ask 'what was the upvote count and what was the upvote count of the 20th-place product that day?'; the gap between those two numbers should be explained by specific factors in the review
• Ask about the comment engagement — 'how many comments did the PH listing receive and how quickly did you respond to each one?'; a launch day where the maker was unresponsive is a learning, not just a failure; the post-launch review should address engagement quality, not just upvote count

Own a milestone like this? Submit proof and invite verifiers — sign in to get started.