I learned how naive I was after my first launch. What about you?
Derek Liu
32 replies
Hi, I’m Derek. I joined Product Hunt a month ago with the same goal as many of you: I had my product ready and wanted to get it known by more people, hoping people find it useful.
I started by actively engaging with the community, providing thoughtful comments, sharing useful tips, studying FAQs, and learning from others’ posts. I carefully prepared my launch page and followed all the recommended steps from every launch tip I could find.
Confident in the abilities and features of my tool, and considering the time and effort I put into building it and preparing the launch, I was eager Trangram would be featured...
However, everything went completely off-plan... (That’s another long story I could write a separate post on Medium, No, I don’t even have an account yet)... In the end, Trangram launched unexpectedly on Sept 10, but I’m grateful it got featured, even though I had to compete with some big players that day (later, I found out Apple had three featured products!).
During launch day, I’m so thankful for everyone who supported me and Trangram, it made me feel like my effort putting into building Trangram and previous contributions on PH were worth it. The ranking didn’t bother me since I wasn’t aiming for the top 10, let alone Product of the Day. I feel fortunate to have been featured and to receive so much support from you all.
Some of you may not know, but before joining PH, I was almost completely off social media. I had just two followers on X/Twitter and Reddit, that was all my external support during launch. Taking this opportunity, I want to give a big thank you to @LearoTech, who I knew just a few days ago. He followed me all the way from Reddit and Twitter and even created a PH account just to support Trangram’s launch. On top of that, he wrote a Medium post introducing Trangram, which I didn’t discover until late last night. I also want to express deep appreciation to @TheHighSecond from X/Twitter. We didn’t know each other, but he posted asking people to support Trangram on the launch day. I did receive many emails offering upvote services on PH right before launch, some even claimed that products ranking #1 were 'helped' by them, which of course, I had no clues to prove what they claimed, but I believe most of us who trust in our products and want a fair game would ignore those offers, regardless of the result.
Having experienced my first launch, here's my advice to future makers:
1. Take time to build your product and make yourself believe in it first.
2. Learn about PH (or any other launch platform) and understand how it can help you and your product. ("In every case, just don't take anything at face value." from @karl_mechkin, hope you don't mind me quoting you again without asking, just couldn't think of a better word)
3. Take time to engage with the community and build relationships.
4. Adjust your expectations based on what you learn, hope for the best but expect the worst.
I hope this helps! Feel free to share your thoughts below.
Replies
Vaibhav@vaibhavdwivedi
Yes, yes. I even have been there and I can understand the situation. Love have you went all detail into it, Derek.
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I was pretty naive too! Thought my first product would be an instant hit. Learned a lot from that initial launch - the importance of really understanding the market, getting early feedback, iterating fast. It's a journey and we're all learning as we go. Thanks for sharing your experience, helps newbies like me feel less alone in the struggles of launching something new. Keep up the great work and insights!
Trangram
@karenanderson Thanks for sharing as well, these are all great points!
Haha I feel you! On my first launch I thought I had everything planned perfectly, but quickly realized how many things I overlooked. But you learn a ton going through the process, even if it's a bit painful at times. My biggest takeaway was the importance of getting real user feedback early and often. Don't build in a vacuum assuming you know what people want - put something out there, see how people react, and iterate fast. Wishing you the best on your next launch!
Trangram
@rowanmaxwelleverett Thanks for sharing! Agree that it's the learning process that truly matters, as it empowers us for the next step in our journey.
Oh yes, my first launch was quite humbling! I thought I had it all figured out, but quickly realized how much there still was to learn. It's all part of the journey though - each launch teaches valuable lessons to apply to the next one. Wishing you the best on your current projects! The PH community is a great place to continue sharing insights and learning from each other even post-launch.
Trangram
@zoevivianthornton Thank you for your sharing!
I was very naive.
1 - I created an account here on my product name instead of my name. Now I can't change the username.
2 - I created a product launch on my 1st day and scheduled it for the next day. - DISASTER
3 - I explored Product Hunt after my launch. I lost on so much because of that.
I'm launching another great product soon. Hope this time I'll utilize the resources well enough.
Trangram
@vocabularyexpertapp Thanks for your honest sharing! You're not alone (I did the same during my first trial on HN), we all learned the hard way.
1. I have seen people here change their username. I'm not sure how, but it's possible.
2. Having strong connections (which I don’t) here definitely helps on launch day, but strong external connections (which I also don’t have) are equally important for getting votes, based on my observations. However, the most important factor is getting your product featured on the home page. Otherwise, it’s almost as if you never launched. That said, being featured is somewhat out of our control.
3. Never mind! As long as we learn from our experiences and make it count in the future :)
Best wishes for your new product!
@vocabularyexpertapp I have changed my username editing the profile. They allow it once in every 30 days.
Trangram
@vocabularyexpertapp @aigenie Thanks for sharing! Just a heads-up, once you change your username, your previous "@ mention" in discussions and comments will no longer work as it links to 404 (not found) :)
@vocabularyexpertapp @derek_liu_dev oh I didn't know that those previous links will not work. Good to know, thanks.
@aigenie @derek_liu_dev And what about my previous launches and products?
Oh I feel you, my first launch was a whirlwind too. Learned so much the hard way haha. Biggest lesson for me was not taking user onboarding seriously enough. I naively thought the product would speak for itself but boy was I wrong. You really gotta hold the user's hand at first. What about you, what was your biggest takeaway? Anyways, keep rockin it and hope to see you around PH more, good folks like you make the community great. Best of luck on your next projects!
Trangram
@miasophiawalker That's a great point! I completely agree that ease of use is crucial for attracting people to try a product. In addition to that, building strong connections on social media plays a vital role in achieving a higher rank on launch day. Thanks again for your kind words!
Trangram
Sunrise: Guided Journaling & Mindfulness
Thanks for sharing this @derek_liu_dev ! I'm also very behind in the social media game. Any tips on how to start becoming more involved in Twitter / Reddit?
Sunrise: Guided Journaling & Mindfulness
@derek_liu_dev LOL always be learning!
Trangram
@the_han_kim Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with this, as you can see from my Twitter profile. It might be helpful to ask here or on other social platforms for more insights :)
The thing with not taking anything at face value originally was applying to obtaining credible information, but after our launch, I would say that it has to be applied also to people's words. It's hard for me, as I always give a credit of trust at the beginning and then just become disappointed.
I'm genuinely curious, what stops people from keeping their word and what do they get from lying if there is nothing to gain for them from it? I would say that almost half of the people who declared support earlier didn't even show, and maybe 10% who said that they supported, in fact didn't do that. Maybe trusting people is naive?
Also, probably a bit naively, I was hoping a bit, that as our product stands out among AI and programming stuff, it had a chance to be featured, as a PH nod towards CSR/ESG.
Trangram
@karl_mechkin I can relate to what you’re saying. Not everyone appreciates honesty, some might even take advantage of it. It reminds me of when I supported others' products simply because they hinted at supporting mine. I took it seriously: I remembered their launch day and gave my support to their products. Since I didn’t receive any notifications (seems PH doesn’t notify for non-featured products as of today), I took the time to check their activity to confirm their launch and cast my vote. However, they didn’t (or had no chance to) appreciate that, as I didn’t see them return after their launch, not to mention supporting me on my launch day.
Anyway, I learned something valuable from that experience. Beyond issues of trust, I discovered that new users like me often miss the 'All' toggle button on the home page, and the 'All' toggle button in the "Launches Tab" page doesn’t work (I tested it many times). This led me to understand that being featured is a major factor for visibility. Previously, you couldn’t even search for non-featured products, though it seems that has changed recently. I still don’t understand how to get featured or not, which is why I said, "Learn about PH (or any other launch platform) and understand how it can help you and your product."
@derek_liu_dev I reported that issue with 'All' button, as few days ago it seemed to work (maybe then I tried it from the main page and not Launches), but now a few people reported the same problem. It also doesn't work in the Launch archive. I don't know if anything will be done with that, and it surely impacts discoverability of non-featured products. I also have a problem with not all discussions showing up when sorting by 'New'. It happened already twice in the last three weeks and lasted for 2-3 days each time.
Trangram
@karl_mechkin Thanks for reporting the issue! I’ve experienced the same problem with discussions and occasional 500 errors as well.
Thanks for Your Time ,Derek Creating A Free PowerFul Editor to Us and Thanks for your kind words
Trangram
👍 My pleasure! Thanks for your support! @learotech
Thanks a lot Derek! Really helpful advice! I'm also preparing my product and just started to build up relationship in PH community. I wonder how can you get points and notifys in such a short time? I would be more than appreciate if you can help me out. Thanks again!
@derek_liu_dev Thanks for your detailed advice and your testing vote (lol)! It's inspiring!
At the beginning I only upvoted products withouing leaving a comment. Then I gradually realize what really matters is to build connection. But as you said, I still got zero points even I try to actively discuss with people and upvote products, so I'll try to contact PH.
I want to extend my appreciation to you again since you spare your time to help me out. Wish you all the best! And all the best with your product!