“Failed” Product Hunt launch resulted in 25 new users
Claudiu Cogalniceanu
18 replies
Hey everyone.
I wanted to share my journey and learnings from launching my web app (https://sentrya.net) on Product Hunt (twice).
My first launch was last year in October. I was quite new to Product Hunt, and read and saw posts offering all kinds of tips and tricks to have a successful launch.
So I went ahead and ignored all of that.
I spent about 30 minutes preparing my launch page, took some screenshots of my service, and scheduled it for next day.
Launch day went quite well - it resulted in 90+ upvotes, 20-30 comments, and 15 signups to my waiting list.
Awesome results if you ask me! It validated my idea, I got some people interested, and I got some initial feedback.
Now, about 7 months later, my app went through some great transformation with improved UX and new features, and I scheduled my 2nd launch on Product Hunt - this time 30 days in advance.
Since I invested so much time in improving the app and (trying to) building an audience for it, I thought it would be best to do it right this time.
Even with all this preparation, the results weren’t great. My audience is small, and Tuesdays appear to be the busiest day for a launch (a lot of competition). With that in mind, here are my results:
- 95 upvotes (#20 position)
- 6-7 comments (mostly just “Congrats on the launch”)
- 90 unique visitors to my website
- 25 new users
- 2 paid users
Conclusion: Product Hunt isn’t dead - it still brings value to startups. You just need to take the time to build an audience and hype around your product and launch in order to get top 5. And even if you do land a top 5 position, signups and paid users are not a guarantee - it all comes down to the quality of your product/service and the value it provides.
Replies
Vaibhav@vaibhavdwivedi
It is always better to launch without thinking a lot about "win/loss".
Share
FuseBase /formerly Nimbus/
Thanks for sharing your honest feedback on your launch. Totally agree with the conclusion and wish you all the best with your next launch!
@kate_ramakaieva thanks Kate! Although, I don’t know if it’ll be another launch. We’ll see how things evolve🤷♂️
I think people now have a special sense for honesty and value, but this requires good communication regarding the benefits. So having launched a product here brings value already, it's not a fail, but maybe for the next one it needs better prep long in advance. Thank you for sharing and let us know about the new launches :)
@monica_burian thank you Monica! I don’t consider the launch as failed (which is why I’ve put the quotes), but I hoped to land in top 5 this time. Still, I’m really happy with the results - it gave me the confidence I needed😊
Jector AI
I clicked your website in which the initial message for your solution is also clear. It's making the users catch the attention and quality really seems to be matter. Great idea! Thanks for sharing your story :)
@huxley_jay That's great feedback! Would you mind taking a look at our website as well? Zeacon.com
Jector AI
@jd_worcester Hi JD! The sign in your domain makes my beginning smile :) Keep it up! Let's support each other in the community! I gave you my support! Thanks.
Thanks for sharing @claudiu_cogalniceanu! If you had to do it over again would you choose a different day to launch other than Tuesday?
@jd_worcester that’s a good question JD - I would probably choose a Wednesday (or even a Thursday, but that would be a stretch). I think that Tuesdays (and maybe Wednesdays) have peak traffic, and is the best day to launch. If your product is built for other founders, it’s even better
Thanks for sharing! I’m struggling to see what will happen with RecruitPage and reading feedbacks like your is really useful to me
Thanks for this! I'll definitely check it out
Not many people can admit that their launch "failed." In my view, it's only a failure if you don't learn from it. These insights are really helpful for those who will be launching soon. Thanks for sharing this Claudiu!
@sreenington thanks Sree! I’m a strong believer that we learn a lot more from failures than from winnings.