#1 Developer Tool of the Week @ Product Hunt: How we did it

1. Introduction: Corbado's Launch

2. Reasons to Launch a Dev Tool on Product Hunt

3. Tips for a successful Product Launch

    3.1 Choose the right Hunter

    3.2 Manage your Expectations

    3.3 Decide on a Launch Goal

    3.4 Optimize your Launch Page

    3.5 Connect with the Community

    3.6 Tips for Launch Day

4. Conclusion: Have Fun!

1. Introduction: Corbado's Launch

On January 25 2024, we hit a significant milestone with Corbado: Launching our Developer Tool on Product Hunt, we not only achieved the #4 product of the day but also topped the charts as the #1 Developer Tool of the week. Our launch resulted in 2x the traffic on our website and 4x the amount of usual daily signups on launch day and the few days after it.
A lot of time and effort went into preparing our launch and we learned many things, which we want to share in this blog post.

Theres plenty of material out there already on how to launch on Product Hunt. Thats why we want to focus this blog post on how to launch a Dev Tool successfully on Product Hunt. So if you're building a Developer Tool and are considering or already preparing a Launch on Product Hunt, this post is for you.
But also anyone else looking for growth hacks (specifically for a dev tool) will find some insights here, since many of our learnings can be applied to all types of products.

2. Reasons to Launch a Dev Tool on Product Hunt

For those who dont know, heres a quick explanation of Product Hunt:
Its a unique platform where creators, so called Makers, showcase their products. Each product launch, or "Hunt," lasts for 24 hours, during which the products compete against each other and are ranked by their number of upvotes and interactions.

Even though Dev Tools are the minority of products on Product Hunt, the list of benefits is convincing:

1. New Customers: The platform is a hub for early adopters, tech enthusiasts, and professionals like developers and product managers. Launching your Dev Tool exposes it to an open-minded and big audience which you can convert to your (first) customers!
2. Diverse Audience: Product Hunt's mix of tech-savvy and non-technical members provides a unique opportunity to understand how your tool is perceived by a broader audience. It's a good way to test if your product resonates with non-techies and if they'd recommend it to their developer peers.
3. Global Community: The community is scattered all over the globe this gives you exposure to developers from other regions of the world who might have different tech stacks and needs than you have planned so far.
4. Valuable Feedback: The community on product hunt is open-minded and positive towards all new tools & products even if theyre still a flawed prototype. You can expect valuable feedback for your product, landing page and other aspects all in a very positive way which is refreshing compared to other platforms like Reddit or Twitter.
5. Upgrade your Marketing Visuals: Visuals that are appealing and informative are tough to create and are often pushed back to when the product is ready or some other point in time. Launching on Product Hunt gives you a reason to finally create the nice and crisp visuals that your product deserves.
6. Prepare for Launches in Dev Communities: Next to the visuals you also iterate a lot on the perfect product description and can test how your product is perceived. These materials and learnings are a great basis to launch on Developer-specific platforms like DevHunt, HackerNews, Subreddits, Discord Servers.
7. Prioritizing Features, SDKs & Integrations: Which frameworks do your potential customers use? What features are a must, and which are just nice-to-have? Launching on product hunt is a great way to get answers on these questions and prioritizing on the right Development Tasks.
8. Framing your product: With Dev Tools you usually focus on features for developers and de-prioritize all the marketing fluff around it. However, in the long run its also important to convince customers with your branding, pricing and other soft factors. These are all part of your product and the sooner you realize whats working, the better.
9. SEO Boost: Improving your SEO is hard we know. Launching on Product Hunt boosts your SEO through valuable backlinks, enhancing your website's long-term visibility of course this effect is greater the better your ranking is.
10. Successful Examples: Notion, Slack, Zapier, Loom, Stripe - many great software companies launched and refined their products very early with Product Hunt. They all mastered the art of building in public and can be a good role model for leveraging Product Hunt.

As you can see there are a lot of benefits in the short run as well as in the long run.
The sooner you launch your product, the more can you benefit from it!
But a launch also needs to be well-prepared, so lets dive into our recommendations for rocking your launch.

3. Tips for a successful Product Launch

3.1 Choose the right Hunter

On Product Hunt, a "hunter" is the user that uploads your product. While you could do this yourself, its become a thing that users often hunt products on behalf of others. This isn't just a technical role, but rather something that influences your whole launch.

In the past, Product Hunt's algorithm seemed to favor products introduced by active community members. While this is apparently not the case anymore, selecting a well-connected hunter with a substantial following can nevertheless amplify your product's visibility.
Heres what you should look out for in a Hunter:

1. Experience with Dev Tools: Look for hunters who either have a background in development or have a track record of successfully launching and marketing Developer Tools on Product Hunt. Their insights and experience are very valuable in preparing your launch materials, ensuring they resonate with the Product Hunt community. Well dive into this deeper later on
2. Network within the Developer Community: A hunter's network can greatly push your launch, which weve seen for example with our hunter Florent Merian (fmerian on Product Hunt). He is not only seasoned in hunting Developer Tools but also co-manages the Developer Marketing Community on Slack, which he can leverage for your launch.

While we had a great experience with Florian, there are numerous skilled hunters out there who can bring different strengths to your launch. To explore options and find a hunter who aligns with your product and goals, you can use this list with 111 Super Users: Product Hunt Hunters Directory.

3.2 Manage your Expectations

Are you hyped to launch your Dev Tool and receive loads of feedback, traffic, and new customers?

Great! Unfortunately, I need to temper that excitement a bit and urge you to manage your expectations. Dont get me wrong launching on Product Hunt will indeed bring you a lot of traffic, sign-ups, and exposure. However, it's important to understand that getting helpful feedback for Dev Tools can be particularly challenging. Most users on Product Hunt will give each product a few clicks and minutes of their time. This is usually sufficient to browse through a website, click through a storyboard, or even interact with a simple online tool. But Developer Tools often require more time and deeper engagement than what the average Product Hunt user might offer.

If you do a good job presenting your tool, you'll likely receive supportive comments from users. However, it's more realistic to accept that most users won't download and thoroughly test your tool. Our launch resulted in 2x the traffic on our website and 4x the amount of usual daily signups (on launch day and the few days after it), which were nice results. However, we had hoped for more in-depth comments, e.g. feedback on our UI components or the functionality of specific features.
The typical Product Hunt user simply doesn't have the time to dedicate to extensively testing a product to provide such detailed feedback (unless he was already looking for a Dev Tool in this space).

3.3 Decide on a Launch Goal

Deciding your launch date and understanding your target group might seem easy at first, but these factors significantly impact your overall strategy and the success of your launch. Before anything you need to decide on your main goal for the launch.

Choose your Launch Goal

Of course, everyone wants to be the #1 product of the day and maximize website traffic and signups in the meantime, but aligning these goals can be challenging.
Therefore you should choose one or a few of these primary goals:

• Becoming #1 Product of the Day
• Maximum number of user signups
• Receive a lot of valuable feedback
• Improve your SEO with new mentions

While #1 Product of the Day is all about understanding and playing the Product Hunt Game on the platform, other goals like the signups require more focus on converting the users with a good website. Its tough to decide on one of these but trust us, it will help you down the line in the many small decisions that are awaiting you.

Choose your Launch Date

Traffic on Product Hunt varies throughout the week. Typically, Tuesday to Thursday see the highest user traffic. Launching on these days means maximum exposure but also tougher competition. It's challenging to make it to the top on these days due to more established companies choosing the same window for their launches. In contrast, Friday to Monday is quieter, with fewer users but also less competition on the platform. These days might offer a better chance to become the product of the day or to ensure your product doesn't get overlooked. A useful tool to check out is hunted.space to see the number of products and total upvotes for each day.
For our launch of Corbado, we aimed for high traffic and exposure and chose Thursday, the busiest day of the week.

Understanding Product Hunter's User Types

On Product Hunt, users generally fall into two categories:

1. Developers and Techies: These are your primary target customers and prefer straightforward content that highlights your tool's USPs over marketing BS.
   Unfortunately, they make up a minority of the Product Hunt community.

2. Non-Techies: These are mostly investors, product managers, or other business-oriented users. If your content is overly technical, these users might find it inaccessible or irrelevant. However, their support is crucial for ranking higher on Product Hunt since these are the majority of users.

Of course, this is a simplification, and there's a spectrum of users in between. But the key challenge of launching a Dev Tool is to create a product page that appeals to both groups oftentimes its just impossible to perfectly target both.
Therefore, you need to decide which group is more important for your specific launch goals.

3.4 Optimize your Launch Page

Tailoring everything to your target group is crucial and directly follows the decision you made about your audience in the previous step. The key to a successful launch lies in how you craft your profile, including the headline, description, visuals, and maker's comment. These elements should not only be catchy but also informative, reflecting who you are targeting.

For our Corbado launch, we chose a balanced approach. We created visuals and headlines designed to catch the attention of all users but made it abundantly clear in our description and makers comment that our product was specifically designed for Developers.

Here are the five areas you should focus on:

Headline and Description

We went through several iterations of our texts to ensure they were as engaging as possible. For instance, here are some headline alternatives we considered:

1. "Passkey-First Auth Components for React & Vanilla JS"
2. "Make Authentication Great Again with Passkeys"
3. "Get Rid of Passwords for Happier Users and Better Security"
4. "Allow Your Users to Login Without Passwords"
5. "The Secure Login That Makes Your Users Happy"

Each headline had a different impact and appeal.
The first one clearly targets developers, but it might not attract a non- technical user. On the other hand, option 4 could appeal more to a product manager but might not be catchy to a developer. Selecting the right headline is challenging, and it's difficult to determine which is the absolute best.

However, it's crucial to be mindful of the diverse user groups on Product Hunt to ensure a successful launch. You want to avoid the worst case, where you're not fully appealing to either group developers and non-developers. This again underscores the importance of choosing a hunter with experience in Dev Tools. They have witnessed various launches and have a keen understanding of what works and what doesnt, which can be invaluable for your products debut on Product Hunt.

Compelling Images

"A picture is worth a thousand words" rings especially true on Product Hunt because users browsing your profile will decide within seconds whether they give your product a chance or not.

For Developer Tools, it's essential to effectively showcase your USPs and explain your product visually through a few compelling images. These visuals should be straightforward and appealing, striking a balance between being overly text-heavy and lacking essential product information. The goal is to create visuals that are not only eye-catching but also quickly convey to users why your product is worth their attention. This is especially crucial for Dev Tools that dont have an appealing UI themselves because they focus on backends or command line interfaces.

Next to an appealing look, the visuals should each convey a clear USP or other information. Avoid filling them with a lot of text or too many screenshots, that nobodys going to read. Instead keep it clear, concise and visually appealing:

A Catchy Video

Additionally, incorporating a video can significantly enhance your launch page. Whether its a demo of your product or an explanatory video that outlines the problem, solution, and how your product fits into this equation, videos can provide a more comprehensive understanding of what you offer. At Corbado, we created this:

A video gives you a lot more room for personalization and conveying information than the visuals. Heres where your launch goal comes into importance again. In our case, we wanted to produce a video that best explains passkeys and Corbado to non- technical users, which is why we went for such an explanatory video. If your goal is to showcase your product to convert customers, maybe a product demo is more suitable.

A Personal Maker Comment

The first comment that is posted on the launch page by one of the makers is called the makers comment and its a great way to provide some personality and backstory to your product. This is often underrated, but a well-written makers comment can really make a difference.
While the headline and images are all about communicating the USPs of your product, the comment gives you enough space for your personal thoughts. Whether its the founding story of your startup or the goals you want to achieve with it feel free to express yourself as a founder. Also make it fun and easy to read by formatting the text accordingly, using emojis and following a clear structure.
In our case we focused on the relatable backstory on why Corbado was founded, combined with a clear list of USPs targeted at Developers:

Optimizing your Website

Keep in mind that a catchy Launch Page on Product Hunt is only the first part but with each user clicking on the link to your website you must seal the deal with a great landing page. Depending on your launch goal, the specific call to actions must be directly visible and accessible. Whether its a user signup, a free product demo or signing up for an e-mail newsletter think about what you want the users to do and then optimize your landing page for that CTA.

The link in your launch page can be customized, so its also possible to link to a specific landing page or even a totally different website. In some cases, this makes sense, but with Corbado we decided to link to our regular landing page. Why? Because converting roaming users and making them sign up is the exact task of the normal website, and we wanted to make sure that all links posted on Launch Day will stay functional after the Launch.
We also recommend this to most of the Dev Tools out there. See it as an exercise to improve your landing page because if it wont convert signups on Launch Day it will hardly be effective at any other time, too.

Creating the important visual assets images, a video and a good landing page requires considerable time and possibly involve additional costs if you need to hire freelancers or specialists. However, this investment is often well worth it. The impact of well-crafted visuals on Product Hunt cannot be overstated, particularly for Developer Tools. While an entire blog could be dedicated to creating perfect visuals for Product Hunt, the key takeaway here is the critical importance of good visuals in your Product Launch especially ones that can be used for future marketing!

3.5 Connect with the Community

In the weeks leading up to the launch its all about effectively building a following on Product Hunt. As someone marketing a Dev Tool, you're likely accustomed to interacting mainly with developers. The Product Hunt community, however, is broader and more varied, but dont let that intimidate you its an incredibly open-minded and welcoming group. Here are 4 tips to join the community:

1. Start Engaging Early: Its crucial to become active on Product Hunt as early as possible. This is because the platform's algorithm tends to overlook accounts that are newly created or generally inactive. When it comes to upvotes, comments, and reviews, quality definitely trumps quantity. A great way to engage with other users are discussions whether its by answering on other discussions or by creating your own. And in the end its a community like any other, so sometimes emotional topics drive the most traffic e.g. like a discussion about cats and dogs.
2. Building Your Followership: Creating a followership on Product Hunt is simpler than it might seem and doesnt require a significant time investment. The key is authenticity. With many users resorting to repetitive, generic comments a trend especially increased by ChatGPT genuine interaction stands out. By providing thoughtful feedback on other launches, contributing valuable insights in discussions, and being genuinely engaging, you can quickly attract followers. Some positive examples are my comments for Octomind or Findr.
3. Be the User you want on Launch Day: The golden rule is to engage with others launches in the same way you hope they'll engage with yours. Avoid the trap of mindlessly upvoting every product and leaving generic comments like Congrats on the launch! or Great idea. Instead, take the time to really explore the product, offer constructive feedback, share your opinions on aspects like pricing, or provide any insights that could be beneficial to the product team. This level of thoughtful engagement not only helps others but also establishes your presence as a valuable member of the Product Hunt community, attracting followers who appreciate your genuine contributions.
4. Leverage LinkedIn Groups: Something weve discovered rather late are LinkedIn Groups with Product Hunt users, aimed at spreading the news about your launch and making people have a look at the launch. These groups can be a literal goldmine with several thousand users that you can approach but keep in mind to not spam everyones inbox and also never ask for upvotes. This is forbidden by Product Hunt and if you have a great product, the upvotes will come naturally with people visiting your profile.

3.6 Tips for Launch Day

1. Leverage all your platforms:
   On Launch Day you need to bring as much attention as possible to your profile. You should use all your platforms as well as personal networks for this. In our case we posted on LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, DEV, Indiehackers, our Substack Newsletter and several personal groups. Also dont hesitate to ask friends & family for support everybody does it and itll help you a lot. Just keep in mind that the algorithm of Product Hunt disregards newly created accounts, so you should urge your close supporters to already create a profile and be active on the platform for 1-2 weeks pre-launch.

2. Focus on the first 4 hours:
   For the first 4 hours of the day, Product Hunt shows no upvote count and doesnt rank the products. After the 4 hours have passed, the products are ranked and most users just click on the top products for the rest of the day.
   Thus its critical to use your personal network and postings to rank high in these first 4 hours after that you can count on organic traffic throughout the day.

3. Dont panic if youre not featured right away:
   An issue that we didnt know before our launch is that Product Hunt reviews all products to only list approved products on the homepage. So in our case, our launch page was visible right away but it took two full hours until we were approved and listed on the homepage. It also doesnt help to contact support because in the first hours theyre not responding to any inquiries. This is of course bad especially considering the critical first 4 hours and unfortunately happens to many products. So keep in mind that its normal for your approval to take a few minutes and even a few hours. Dont panic, but rather keep pushing your launch on all platforms and your personal network as long as your launch page is working, you should spread the link to get the critical interactions of the first 4 hours.

4. Engage with users:
   If your launch goes well, youll collect many comments and messages about your product. All your time and energy should go into responding to these comments and make sure that you get the most out of them. If users give you feedback or other helpful information, you can ask for more details and can greatly benefit from a full conversation with these users. Also its a nice gesture to interact on other launches of the day, even though theyre your competition.

5. Prepare for 24 hours:
   A launch starts at midnight (Pacific Time) and closes 24 hours after. Dont be fooled by thinking your spending this day like any other. Due to the global reach and different time zones, there are new users coming on to the website at every hour of the launch as you can see in the diagram of our upvotes over time.
   Of course its hard (and no fun) to stay awake on your own for full 24 hours, so what we can recommend is making a team activity out of it. In our case, we met in the office and prepared for the all nighter with snacks, drinks and a lot of motivation. The adrenaline in the first hours of the launch, the excitement when being ranked after four hours as well as the tension of head-to-head races with other products a launch is a true bonding experience and the perfect teambuilding.

6. Schedule everything beforehand:
   To be able to engage with the community throughout the day, you must have all the social media posts drafted and ready to publish before the launch even starts. 24 hours sound like a lot, but itll pass quicker than you think especially if youre interacting with users all the time. Next to announcements on all platforms in the morning, we also posted some stats and user comments throughout the day on Twitter and LinkedIn. These were great to remind people of the launch without being too pushy with it. Make sure that you prepare templates for this before the launch, here are some examples of our posts:

LinkedIn: Corbado

Twitter: corbadotech

4. Conclusion: Have Fun!

Intense preparation is the key to of a successful Product Hunt launch. Ideally, you should start preparing everything about 4 weeks in advance. And by everything, I mean every single detail: from crafting your maker comment to planning the tweets you'll post on the launch day.
Remember, the launch day is a marathon - you'll be actively engaging for 24 hours, responding to messages, and reaching out to users on Product Hunt.
Having everything prepared in advance will be a lifesaver. A well-executed launch on Product Hunt can provide a significant boost to your Dev Tool, serving as an effective growth hack.

But amidst all the planning and execution, it's crucial to enjoy the process and have fun with it. For example, we found ourselves in a neck-to-neck race with Dokin and ultimately landed just behind them in the rankings. We even shared a friendly banter with Dokin's co- founder on LinkedIn about our tight competition 16 hours into the launch:

This kind of good sportsmanship is essential and fun - it's important to remember that everyone else is putting in as much effort into their launches as you are. So be a fair sportsman, support the other launches and most importantly: Have fun!

As a final note, launching on Product Hunt shouldn't be a one-time thing. Successful companies like Notion and Stripe have launched multiple times, iterating quickly new features of their products. Thats why we're also planning to launch more frequently in the future.