What it takes to get to the top of Product Hunt

I’ll never forget the moment I jumped out of bed at 2 AM to launch Hoop on Product Hunt.

There I was, groggy-eyed, sipping coffee while juggling Slack messages and last-minute tweaks. That day was wild. Exhausting. Thrilling. Incredibly productive. And yes, we got to #1 AI product and #2 overall product of the day.

Here's how we executed a successful launch including what we learned on the big day:

‍

Why launch on Product Hunt?

We’d been building Hoop—a personalized AI task manager that captures to-dos automatically—for about nine months. After pivoting our company direction the previous year, we worked one-on-one with early adopters (aka “concierge onboarding”), scheduling calls to show new users how everything worked. It was perfect for learning in-depth, but not how envisioned growing the business.

When we decided to open up self-serve signups (sign up on the site, no calls needed), we realized we needed a big external push, a moment to drive awareness and test the new onboarding. Enter Product Hunt—our chance to:

• Rally the team around delivering a cohesive set of features.
• Create buzz and social proof from a community of fellow builders and early adopters.
• Learn if self-serve signups really worked without us hopping on a 30-minute Zoom.

In short, we wanted a true public launch where we could gather feedback and accelerate momentum.

Months of prep: picking a hunter & polishing the story

Despite the hype around “launch early, launch often,” we spent months meticulously preparing. We’d heard that Product Hunt is all about authenticity and community—not a quick hack-and-run. That meant:

1. Nailing our narrative: We couldn’t just say “AI! Tasks! Productivity!” and hope that’d be enough. We wanted a clear story around how Hoop saves you from the tyranny of that never-ending to-do list.
2. Choosing a hunter: Your “hunter” is the person who actually posts your product on Product Hunt (could be someone on your team, or an influential member of the PH community). Having the right hunter can supposedly make or break a lauch.
3. Building our visuals & video in-house: We looked into fancy video production agencies but ultimately decided to shoot and edit our own. This gave us agility—if the interface changed on Tuesday, we could re-record on Wednesday. (And let’s be honest: it saved a ton of money, too.)
4. Engaging the community early: Months before launch, we began actively engaging with the PH community—commenting, upvoting, and simply being good Product Hunt citizens.
5. Prepping our network: We needed real humans supporting us, not “buy-a-vote” spammy nonsense. We compiled lists of friends, family, fellow founders, and most importantly, actual users who love Hoop.

The 24-hour circus: midnight madness to the final countdown

Product hunt resets daily at midnight Pacific time. If you’re launching, that’s go-time.

• 2 a.m. central, 3 a.m. eastern: Everyone on the founding team was awake, reviewing final details. Our chosen hunter hit the “Launch” button, and voilà—Hoop was on Product Hunt!
• Early hours hustle: Immediately, we started sharing the link with our community in Europe and Australia (they were awake!). We hopped on Slack channels, emailed folks who had said, “Let me know when you go live,” and pinged old friends who we hadn’t talked to in months. Surprisingly, reconnecting with long-lost networks ended up being a fun social bonus.
• Keeping it real: Throughout the day, we responded to comments, clarified questions, and showed appreciation for every upvote. This authenticity keeps the momentum going and shows the PH community you’re legit.

Meanwhile, we also discovered an industrial complex around spammy PH vote buying. We got bombarded by offers to “buy upvotes” or enroll in fishy marketing programs. We avoided all that. The Product Hunt algorithm is way smarter than we realize, and suspicious spikes in upvotes get flagged pretty quickly. In fact, we saw one or two products disappear from the list that day likely due to spammy activity.

So, did it work?

Spoiler: We placed #1 in AI and #2 overall. We almost snagged the very top spot—it was painfully close! Here’s how it helped us:

1. Self-serve validation: We saw a  surge in signups—enough to test our new onboarding funnel, but not the massive wave we might have imagined (the days of “instant hypergrowth” from Product Hunt are mostly urban legend at this point).
2. Team momentum: Having a specific launch date (and a chance to share these new features publicly) was energizing. Nothing quite like a firm deadline with an entire community watching!
3. Social proof: Getting that shiny #1 in AI badge to slap on our landing page is priceless. Plus, we gleaned dozens of user comments we can now repurpose in marketing and share with prospective customers or investors.
4. User love: My personal favorite? The heartfelt comments from our existing users. Seeing them publicly gush over Hoop’s ability to free up mental space or ensure nothing falls through the cracks is unbelievably gratifying.

‍

Advice for future product hunters

1. Make sure your audience is there: If you’re building something that’s not for the Product Hunt crowd, the ROI might not justify the time spent.
2. Spend a lot of time on the story: Expect a ton of behind-the-scenes hustle—writing your tagline, designing visuals, recording a video, and building your “pre-launch hype.”
3. Don’t buy votes (seriously): It’s shady, and the algorithm is ruthless. Plus, you want a genuine community of supporters, not hollow vanity metrics.
4. Rally your fans: Having a real user base who can gush about their experience is gold. If your product hasn’t hit that point yet, consider waiting or do a “soft launch” first to build some user love.
5. Know that it’s a one-day splash: Even if you top the charts, the signups might not catapult you to the moon. The real magic is in the feedback, proof points, and community engagement that come afterwards.

The day after

Once the clock struck midnight again, our ride was (officially) over. We ended the day with hearts full of gratitude for the friends, family, customers, and new fans who helped us climb to #2 overall and #1 AI product of the day.

While Product Hunt didn’t instantly triple our user base, it gave us real-world validation and a compelling story to share with the world. Most importantly, it brought us closer to our community of users who showed up, wrote thoughtful reviews, and reminded us why we built Hoop in the first place: to give people back precious headspace and time.

Cue the celebratory music.

‍