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Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

launchpointzero.com

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Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#31

Post by throwawayha »

elawler24 wrote: post #26
rajivayyangar wrote: post #18

(I'm the CEO of Product Hunt) This isn't far off the mark, but I do want to push back on two things. One: "VC backed companies have the funds to be able to boost their launch on PH to guarantee their launch will be in the top 5." - absolutely not. We do not tolerate paying for votes or other means of artificially boosting score. Two: "its going to be a lot harder for you, the side hustler, the soloprenuer, the full t…

Thank you for trying to take on this problem, it’s really bad though. I did a PH launch this summer resulting in a few hundred unique website views. Comments besides people I already knew were either bots or promotional. Lots of bounty hunters. Compare that to our HN post requiring no additional lift, which resulted in ~10k unique visitors, no bots, and great critical feedback we couldn’t get anywhere else. I do want…

The next version of PH is likely being built now and be the next curve of growth the existing one hasn't done yet.

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#32

Post by throwawayha »

rajivayyangar wrote: post #18

(I'm the CEO of Product Hunt) This isn't far off the mark, but I do want to push back on two things. One: "VC backed companies have the funds to be able to boost their launch on PH to guarantee their launch will be in the top 5." - absolutely not. We do not tolerate paying for votes or other means of artificially boosting score. Two: "its going to be a lot harder for you, the side hustler, the soloprenuer, the full t…

What does top 5 convey anyways? Temporary Signal? Status? Badge?

Likely not a ton of signups or paid users.

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#33

Post by minimaxir »

PaulHoule wrote: post #29
skmurphy wrote: post #9

Key points: 1. There are many to launch but most of the sites don’t have the community or credibility that PH seems to have lost. 2. If you want what PH was 3-4 years ago you have to go somewhere else. 3. If you want to build the new Product Hunt you can’t just create a site where people can submit their product and launch. You need affordances that cultivate community. 4. Once you get traction you should expect some…

I don’t believe in the value of the Product Hunt “community”. The point of marketing is to get your product in front of customers, not to get it front of members of a community of deadbeat marketers who think they’re doing their job when they get their product in front of non-customers. If your product is “one weird trick” to get your product on the top of Product Hunt that’s appropriate for Product Hunt, but that’s…

> The point of marketing is to get your product in front of customers, not to get it front of members of a community of deadbeat marketers

But what if the customers are deadbeat marketers?

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#34

Post by AndrewKemendo »

elawler24 wrote: post #26
rajivayyangar wrote: post #18

(I'm the CEO of Product Hunt) This isn't far off the mark, but I do want to push back on two things. One: "VC backed companies have the funds to be able to boost their launch on PH to guarantee their launch will be in the top 5." - absolutely not. We do not tolerate paying for votes or other means of artificially boosting score. Two: "its going to be a lot harder for you, the side hustler, the soloprenuer, the full t…

Thank you for trying to take on this problem, it’s really bad though. I did a PH launch this summer resulting in a few hundred unique website views. Comments besides people I already knew were either bots or promotional. Lots of bounty hunters. Compare that to our HN post requiring no additional lift, which resulted in ~10k unique visitors, no bots, and great critical feedback we couldn’t get anywhere else. I do want…

PH isn’t, and (hopefully) won’t ever have the gravity of a HN front page

I thought PH was great when they came out and Ryan was a super nice guy - gave my startup a small boost when PH just came out

Reality is there was never a business there in any real way that was sustainable and not subject to enshittification, so I’m not sure what’s surprising

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#35

Post by padseeker »

gkoberger wrote: post #17
padseeker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that the one letter typo on the one of my many points surrounding the drama at Product Hunt discredit the whole thing? No I do not. Maybe I should have shared in the article all the twitter posts where indie hackers are upset how they are getting screwed and how hard it is to get ranked on PH. There is a lot more drama surrounding PH than just the CTO not knowing one well known community member.

Great, but you didn't share those. If you have a better post, I'd love to read it and I'm sure others here would too. But until I see that, I can only go off the words you've written.

here's another one where someone is complaining

https://x.com/tibo_maker/status/1840656616032489754

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#36

Post by the_clarence »

As a user I thought it was fantastic in its beginnings, and then I just grew tired of looking at a pletaura of new products and new apps every day. I suspect noone needs that frequency of product updates unless they're addicted to product updates. I'd rather read HN or twitter and get a bag of diverse news from the people I follow who will organically amplify cool things.

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#39

Post by PaulHoule »

SmellTheGlove wrote: post #37

I still don’t understand what the purpose of product hunt is. Who is the audience and what does a founder concretely gain from launching on PH?

It’s a delusion and has always been a delusion.

Marketing is hard work, you have to identify who the target customer is and try to get inside their head. Whether you are trying for paid advertising or organic SEO or a bombastic pseudo-event like

https://actiondrivenpodcast.com/salesforce-vs-siebel-protest...

it takes some combination of money, time, energy, elbow grease and creativity. Product Hunt offers a chance to bypass all that. It’s particularly seductive to the independent creator who hopes that can bypass the hard work of marketing altogether. (I am thinking right now of a friend who plans to post thousands of videos to Tik Tok without any marketing effort…)

The problem is not that it is hard to get on the front page, the problem is that there is no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow at all, not for a business which isn’t aimed squarely at the center of the crowd that wakes up and checks Product Hunt every morning (an app that promises you’ll frontpage PH? PH 2.0?)

Re: Product Hunt isn't dying, it's becoming gentrified

#40

Post by skmurphy »

PaulHoule wrote: post #29
skmurphy wrote: post #9

Key points: 1. There are many to launch but most of the sites don’t have the community or credibility that PH seems to have lost. 2. If you want what PH was 3-4 years ago you have to go somewhere else. 3. If you want to build the new Product Hunt you can’t just create a site where people can submit their product and launch. You need affordances that cultivate community. 4. Once you get traction you should expect some…

I don’t believe in the value of the Product Hunt “community”. The point of marketing is to get your product in front of customers, not to get it front of members of a community of deadbeat marketers who think they’re doing their job when they get their product in front of non-customers. If your product is “one weird trick” to get your product on the top of Product Hunt that’s appropriate for Product Hunt, but that’s…

One of the challenges in reaching customers is that someone else may have already assembled groups of them in the form of website audiences and communities. Some of those sites will accept sponsorships or ads, others--for example HN--are the result of audience members voting on your submission.

Assuming you believe that getting visibility on Product Hunt will draw the attention of prospects--I agree a potentially dubious assumption--you may need to find ways to cultivate "deadbeat marketeers." From what I understand, not everyone who submits a product the first time gains widespread visibility, so they must submit multiple times. Here might be a second reason to consider how to be a member in good standing of a community whose approval will be of benefit.

Obviously your mileage may vary.

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