The most common question about Product Hunt + my reaction

@ash_grover Ash, have you launched, or are you about to launch?

@sentry_co The notification is a good indicator as increasing demands but it haven't been there for several months. Enough for damaging reputation and raise doubts in people. Just saying that being No. 1 is fine but not guarantee that people will be purchasing the product like crazy. But feedback can increase chances to improve the product which leads to more satisfied testers → customers.

@busmark_w_nika PH isn't about gaining customers. It's about changing lives. It's the place to announce your self, it's the start of the journey, not a marketing channel for mid journeys. This is what people got upset about, ph was abused and used as a spammy marketing channels for non innovative products. That was never the intent with PH. PH is just the place get that first flywheel spinning if your product is 👉relevant to the times👈. I have not heard a single complaint from any makers that has this mindset. Makers who want free marketing on the other hand are upset. But 😅 PH would die fast if the spam continued like that. # Sorry not sorry.

@sentry_co I'll disagree on some things because I have seen quite good and useful products a few months ago not being featured. PH started as a newsletter to show products (usually the meaning of the newsletter is to curate or promote something). Spam was done mainly by bots and the system that pushed people to get upvotes to be the product of the day. I call it the "inflation" of upvotes. The more you have (those begged or delivered by bot accounts), the more priceless they are. Well – I still believe this platform can improve many things and my hopes are it is doing that but it certainly went off track for a little while. Luckily, they also took some feedback to heart and started making some changes – revising the Featured/All section + Featured banner after setting up the launch date. If that wasn’t true, we probably wouldn’t have seen these changes.

@busmark_w_nika Its not about usefulness. It's about feature parity. Like if you launch a AI website analyser now. Well sorry, but that has feature parity with 20+ similar launches over the last 2 years, and 1000s of similar products in the wild. that niche is over saturated. In that niche you can only get featured if you rise above that feature parity. Add something new. Do something different. "The differentiator". So make sure your 👉relevant to the times👈. That's your benchmark. The spam im talking about is that PH allowed stuff with feature parity to enter the platform. And then it was gamed to become nr1. The spam bots are still here, but they are irrelevant now, since you can't just fork a GitHub repo and game it to the top. That game stopped 12 months ago. The spambots pray on people who think ph hasn't changed. I guess they read outdated blog posts on how to perform well on PH.

@sentry_co There are several questions: What to build then? Everything was reinvented (like a wheel) and adding "another feature for the sack of differentiating the product" can defeat the purpose because another feature can make the product more complicated to use... (And we can further ask – "Who can tell us, whether it is unique?" "How many features would be okay and how many too much?" "Should I ask people outside of the PH before the launch?" "Should I ask people during the PH launch because I am expecting to have feedback from them?"). It feels like the PH is now for ready-made products but some people may take it as the platform for products that are about to be ready-made – that is for a longer discussion than for one post. There is a golden mean in place – neither too many curated products nor too few... If too few products were curated here, for several groups it could be a sign that something is not working, stalled growth, doubts (which have already appeared in our case) Because people have started to perceive "not featured" as a kind of punishment the launch of a product can become unattractive. So it is also in the interest of the platform to be clearer in the rules and communicate with the community because people will go to other platforms – and this can have pros/cons for several parties – but as for products, also for platforms the market can regulate itself.

@ashitvora This can be the effect – top position on the ladder but many people think that the badge will bring them success. We tested that badge in creatives, run it as advertisement it didn't have a significant attention. Also, when did you launch? Because launch in 2022 is different than 2024. In between these years, there was a huge change in the amount of bots and people less trusted those "upvotes" – so it started being questionable whether product of the day is really product of the day. You know what I mean.

@olya_zabalkanska How big was the sample?

@helen9 Hey Helen, I am happy that you are trying to improve your final product. I watched the video and I like it. I would also recommend sharing reactions and the product in use with the target group: Kids – there is no more honest approval than by the target group (in your case kids with their parents) – this is more general advice for the future marketing activities. Another tip for the future marketing effort: Partnerhsip. I know guys from Oscar stories: https://oscarstories.com/ who create books – maybe some collaboration between you could make sense. Kids could create a script/book according to the full-length movie that could be made. :) Another activity: Participating in animation short-movie/long-movie festivals. Or you can create a competition (festival) for kids to create one as a side marketing activity. :) Just a few ideas to start with. :)

@busmark_w_nika Hey Nika, Thank you so much for watching the video and for your kind words! it means a lot! 😊 We’ve worked so hard on this and super glad you liked it! Your suggestions are fantastic, seriously. Partnering with Oscar Stories sounds amazing! I love the idea of combining storytelling with animation. Letting kids create scripts or books that could be turned into full-length movies? That’s such a fun and creative collaboration—I’ll definitely look into it! :) We’ve actually invited some AI artists to try out Animate AI and create their own animation videos. Here is the one I like the most. Btw, Merry Christmas :) But I never really thought about hosting a festival or competition for kids or parents to create their own animations! what a cool idea! We do have a video type that generates kids' bedtime stories, so that could be a perfect fit for something like that :) Thanks again for the thoughtful advice—I really appreciate it! These ideas are gold. 🙌

@helen9 You are welcome, Helen! When is the launch date? :) I am thrilled how these ideas will come true! :) Merry Christmas to you as well!

@busmark_w_nika Thanks so much, Nika! 😄 Our official alpha launch date is Tomorrow. (Dec 15, 2024) Today, we’ve actually opened up the alpha sign-up for the Product Hunt community! I’d love to hear any feedback or questions you have once you check it out. :)

@helen9 let me tomorrow know please :)

@busmark_w_nika we plan to launch early next year :)