Ashley Higgins: Product Hunt’s new CEO

A couple of weeks ago, we launched Product Hunt's sister company, Hyper. We've been blown away by the quality of applications to our inaugural founder program so far, and we can't wait to kick off the program this fall. Today, I want to talk about Product Hunt’s future.

When Ashley Higgins became GM earlier this year, she brought more than a decade of experience as a community-driven product leader from Reddit, Clearbit, and SEGA. It quickly became clear to me that Ashley is the right person to run Product Hunt as we develop a new, broader focus—so, today, I’m excited to announce that she will become Product Hunt’s new CEO. I’m going to remain heavily involved as President, focusing on the higher-level vision of Product Hunt and Hyper.

Ashley is supported at Product Hunt by a strong leadership team, including Product Hunt veterans Rado Stankov, Head of Engineering; Julie Chabin, Head of Design; and Emily Hodgins, VP of Operations. All three know the Product Hunt community intimately, having worked at the company for five or more years each, alongside founder Ryan Hoover.

The team will continue to focus on tools that grow and empower the Product Hunt community, like a new mobile app experience, an improved launch flow, more community events, and a fresh look and feel.

We've been investing a lot into Product Hunt this year: the team has already grown by more than 50% since January, and we’re still growing—there are several exciting roles currently open. (We love recruiting from within the community!) With Ashley at the helm, we’re going to continue growing the team and focusing on our mission.

In preparation for Hyper’s launch and our expanded focus, we recently spun Product Hunt out of AngelList so it could operate as its own independent company. Being independent once again will allow us to develop a more focused leadership structure, expand our scope, and give us the ability to make bigger investments into major projects. (For the record, AngelList is still a key partner and major investor, and we plan to work very closely into the future.)

The makers and early adopters who make up the Product Hunt community mean everything to us. We wouldn't exist without the inspirational people who launch, build and discover new products every day. I’m confident that Ashley's experience with community-led product building makes her the perfect person to lead Product Hunt into its next chapter. Exciting times ahead!

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Stay tuned for more Product Hunt news from Ashley and the team, coming soon.