Launch It

Launch it

Developer communities reward the honest, technical, slightly humble builder and punish the marketer instantly. A Show HN is not an announcement. It's "I built this thing, here's how it works and what's still rough."

Use this when: you're scared to launch, you're hoping to "go viral," or you're about to drop marketing copy into a room that eats marketing copy for breakfast.

The core idea

The bar is usefulness + honesty, not polish. Developers will test your claims and read your code. Show up as a real engineer sharing real work, be present to answer everything, and never, ever fake it. One genuine launch beats ten hype posts.

First, learn from launches like yours

Before you pick a venue, read "How comparable products launched" in docs/gtm-cofounder/market-research.md (run research-the-market if it's missing). Where did products like yours launch, what got upvoted, and what got flamed in the comments? Not every dev tool belongs on Product Hunt, and some belong in a single niche community long before HN. Let the evidence pick the rooms, then use the anatomy below for each one.

Framework: Show HN anatomy (Czakon / Tailscale lessons)

1. Title: plain, specific, zero hype. "Show HN: A faster Postgres migration tool for large tables", not "🚀 The future of database migrations is HERE."
2. First comment = the story (post it yourself, immediately):
   • why you built it (the itch, ideally your own),
   • how it works (technical, concrete),
   • what's genuinely hard/limited right now (honesty buys trust),
   • a dead-simple way to try it.
3. Be present for hours. Answer every comment, especially the critical ones, technically and without defensiveness. The comment thread is the launch.
4. Never astroturf. No vote rings, no sock puppets. Communities detect it and the ban is permanent and public.

Framework: Product Hunt anatomy (fmerian / Kilo lessons)

1. Name of the product: simply the name of your product in 40 characters or less.
2. Tagline: concise and descriptive, in less than 60 characters. The most important part, the first thing people read on the front page. Avoid hyperbolic words and emojis. Keep it simple and relatable.
3. Description: a short description of what the product does in less than 500 characters.
4. Launch tags: up to three tags.
5. Thumbnail: a 240 x 240 pixel thumbnail.
6. Image gallery: at least 3 images to show your product. No stock images, no marketing fluff. Show the product, i.e. product screenshots. You can add social proof and a call-to-action to inspire action. The first image is used as the social preview when you share the link to your launch page.
7. First comment: essential to get the discussion started. This comment is posted upon launch. The first 800 characters are displayed. Pro tip: reuse your HN comment.
8. Be present for the first 4 hours. Upvote and reply to every comment. Don't just thank. Ask questions, inspire action.
9. Find a hunter: an established Product Hunt user who can boost your reach. If you're in dev tools, Flo Merian (@fmerian) is a great one to ask. PH has dialed down hunter influence over time, so a strong launch and a present founder matter most, but a well-connected hunter still helps.

Framework adapted from Flo Merian's awesome-product-hunt.

Reddit / community launches

• Give before you take. Be a real participant for weeks before you post your thing.
• Read the rules of the specific subreddit; many ban self-promo outright, so find the ones that don't.
• Frame as "I made this to solve X, feedback welcome," not a pitch.

The coordinated moment (not spam)

A launch is one prepared moment across the channels your ICP actually uses (named in market-research.md and chosen in first-50-users): HN, your own network, and the specific communities and newsletters your ICP reads, all on the same day, each tailored to the room and its self-promo rules. It is not the same copy blasted five places.

Decision tree: are you ready to launch?

Copy code
Can a stranger get to first value in < 1 hour from docs alone (the weekend test)?
├─ NO  → don't launch yet. A flood of users who bounce burns the channel and the goodwill.
└─ YES → is your Show HN first-comment written (why/how/limits/try)?
         ├─ NO → write it first; it matters more than the product page.
         └─ YES → launch on a Tue-Thu morning US time, then clear your calendar to reply.

Mistakes that look reasonable

• Hype title: emojis and superlatives on HN get flagged to death.
• Absent founder: posting then leaving; the unanswered thread dies.
• Defensive replies: arguing with critics. Thank them, concede the fair points, note what you'll fix.
• Astroturfing: instant, permanent reputational damage.
• Launching too early: before the weekend test passes, a launch amplifies your weakest moment.

Your next 30 minutes

• Draft your Show HN title, plain, specific, no hype. Say it out loud; if it sounds like an ad, redo it.
• Write the first comment: why · how · what's hard · how to try. This is the real work.
• Confirm the weekend test passes (see know-if-its-working). If not, delay.
• Pick the ONE day, block 4 hours to reply, and line up the 2-3 rooms your ICP is actually in, by name, from market-research.md.

Built from real dev-tool GTM experience, with frameworks from Adam Frankl (The Developer-Facing Startup) and Jakub Czakon (markepear.dev). A launch you only get one shot at is worth a human sanity-check first. Reach out to me on LinkedIn.