My only PH launch was a memorably bad experience. Competing in real time with whoever else launched that day, in a game where the rules are mysterious and the outcomes are inconsequential.
Product Hunt is dead
101–110 of 119 posts
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#102my thesis is that collections of products (whether that's ProductHunt or r/productivityapps) decline in quality due to self promotion. So i attempted to start r/curatedapps a couple of days ago which forbids self promotion and encourages people to become curators instead. i hope it succeeds! im starved for learning more about new tech innovations :)
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#103Let me communicate this clearly for the subtype of HN users who are engaged in some startup thing: You won't find actual users for your product on Product Hunt because neither normal people nor most nerds browse product discovery sites. VC's don't care either (except for self-promotion).
This gave me one of those surreal "huh" moments I've had in awhile. I've seen loads of apps boasting about being "#1 on Product Hunt" or whatever and I just realised that I've never actually gone to Product Hunt looking for a product to use. Does make you wonder who Product Hunts audience really is and who is doing all the upvoting?
Ever since it began I didn't understand Product Hunt. It's basically a subreddit full of nothing but ads - who would browse that?
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#104I strongly agree with your point. I came across an article that tracked SaaS projects launched on PH between January and June 2024. As of now, 91.2% have fewer than 100 active users, and 84.6% haven’t been updated since the month they launched.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#105I have been a product hunt disciple for years and whilst I dont have or ever had a startup to push, I loved discovering great new ideas and products via PH. I had the RSS feed and went thru it diligently every day, interacted with users, gave feedback, praise, critiques.
That was up until 3 or 4 years ago.
Nowadays, I get the newsletter and may glance at it. It is now full of bots & BS marketeers and every product is AI related which people have put together during their lunch or coffee break. 99% of any feedback is never read, no one replies to any questions and it is just an extension of the pure BS you get on Linkedin.
It has gone from my fave site to one I go to for a laugh at the over the top AI slop.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#106I associate ProductHunt with lots of rocket emojis and artificial-seeming comments congratulating the company on launching. There is usually zero discussion of the product itself, so the whole thing came off as a way to advertise for free. Dead Internet Theory in action.
It’s not just PH, it’s that entire subculture of “founders” or whatever you want to call it, that is just 99% fake and sucks balls.
This is true these days. The biggest calling card for the non-hacker pg callback founder is a forbes 30u30 inclusion - almost nothing worse.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#107How long until products are dead? If AI can build UI on the fly, encode my desires, and launch infra to serve them, won’t I soon be able to cut out the middleman?
The reign of product management is coming to a close and I can’t wait. I want to be in control again.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#108So, basically Product Hunt has become a paid ads platform - only that you wouldn't pay Product Hunt but external service providers. I wonder why PH doesn't take the money directly and switch the business model to some kind of advertising auction. Might be more fair and transparent.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#109Let me communicate this clearly for the subtype of HN users who are engaged in some startup thing: You won't find actual users for your product on Product Hunt because neither normal people nor most nerds browse product discovery sites. VC's don't care either (except for self-promotion).
This gave me one of those surreal "huh" moments I've had in awhile. I've seen loads of apps boasting about being "#1 on Product Hunt" or whatever and I just realised that I've never actually gone to Product Hunt looking for a product to use. Does make you wonder who Product Hunts audience really is and who is doing all the upvoting?
I don't count myself as a Product Hunt audience, but I have visited the site couple, maybe dozens of times. However, it was just brief casual checking to see what's out there. I guess "#1 on Product Hunt" has somehow been burned into my subconscious.
Re: Product Hunt is dead
#110When you post a product, you get flooded with spam emails