20 Lessons from 20 days Product Challenge

What makes a #1 product on ProductHunt

At the beginning of this year (the year is 2019, incase you are reading this from the future), I took up a challenge to write about the number 1 product of the day on Product Hunt for 20 days. For those who do not know, ProductHunt is a site for curating and discovering the best new products. The aim of this exercise was to increase my product thinking skills, because there is a saying that goes, “the best way to teach people critical thinking is to teach them to write”.

The goal of the challenge was achieved, however, there was more. I began to observe some patterns in these number 1 products. Due to the nature of the task, I had to do some research into these products and I discovered some insights as to why these makers gain a successful launch. Not to be ignorant, there is little bit of luck, but there were some right actions taken by the creators to ensure their products sit in the number 1 spot.

With all that said, I am curating a list of 20 lessons learnt from these makers below which I hope will be beneficial to anyone thinking of launching a product on ProductHunt and beyond.

1. Forget innovation/grand vision, and start focusing more on usefulness. Can your potential customer get the useful value on the first interaction with your product? All the products reviewed had a clear immediate incentive for people to gain from first use.
2. Solve small problems. Do small things in a great way. The product doesn’t need to be fully fledge out. If it solves a problem, it is useful.
3. It is important to build a community. Don’t wait for your product to be complete or perfect before building an audience. It came to my attention that some makers already had some online presence as a thought leader, or had previously launched an app. This in turn keeps their audience looking out for any work they churn out.
4. Find your tribe. If you can not build a community, join a community and be helpful. Many successful makers have a track record of being active in a community that aligns with their beliefs. “People like us do thing like this”. Don’t just come launch your product and leave, you are destroying the community. Find communities here -Slacklist.
5. Still on community, the ProductHunt community is one you should be in communications with. Engage with people one the site, try out products and give your honest feedback. Also, get to know the website in and out.
6. Make it free/easy for people to try out your product.
7. I’m a believer of first having an impact and money will find a way into your arms. Most of these products are free to use, and if it turns out they are extremely useful, then the creators can start to charge. Give freely, unless you already have a list of loyal customer, or you are completely sure your product is revolutionary (which it most likely isn’t). Remember: you cannot make an impact if money is the motivation.
8. Test your ideas with real users before you launch. I noticed people commenting of having tried the product before the day it launched. Have people try out the product, explain your idea to them. This is also a good way to build an audience.
9. Listen to user feedback, collect the insights and let your research shape your user experience. User Research is Underrated
10. Write an article about your product, or have someone write it. In the article, sell your story, vision and why you created the product. Have this article attached to the product hunt page.
11. Have a detailed but short description about your product at the beginning of the comment section. Typically, this description should be the first comment. Introduce yourself, your team, and talk a bit about the product and it’s features.
12. Engage with people who comment on your product. Also, have already prepared answers for common FAQs that may arise. Address each comment as much as possible, and do it timely. Be personal, in your answers too!
13. During the challenge, a maker ask me for feedback on a product he was working on. Ideas come from everywhere. Tell people what you are working on, ask for input because it may turn out that there is an angle to the problem you are solving that you are not seeing. It is then important to filter the signals from the noise.
14. Design matters. Your product needs to have a beautiful and professional look. “It you can’t make it good, at least make it look good” — Bill Gates.
15. Create fun graphics to promote your product. Use gifs for the logo thumbnails. It draws a little attention to your product. People are fond of wanting to see the entire loop of a gif. Also, motion catches the eye.
16. Create beautiful mockups for your images for the product’s page gallery. Use cleanmock.
17. Create a short explainer video to teach people about your product. The faster you help people understand, the better.
18. Reach out to top hunters to hunt your product, incase you do not have a following. Top hunters are kinda like the influencers on ProductHunt, and typically have quite a number of following. When they hunt a product their followers get notified.
19. Use the Ship feature on ProductHunt, as a landing page for your upcoming product launch. ProductHunt allows you to export a mailing list of interested people who subscribes to your Ship page.
20. There is luck involved, but you can create your own luck.

Here is a list of all the product exercise post:

1. Day 1 — How Not To Launch
2. Day 2 — SoMo, Social Mobility
3. Day 3 — CleanMock
4. Day 4 — Evernote Design
5. Day 5 — Focusmate
6. Day 6 — Makelog 2.0
7. Day 7 — GetData.io
8. Day 8 — Fugue 2.0
9. Day 9 — Listen App
10. Day 10 — Weblium
11. Day 11 — Shots
12. Day 12 — Amazon Lite
13. Day 13 — You Need A Wiki
14. Day 14 — Spell
15. Day 15 — Lemlist 2.0
16. Day 16 — Roadmap
17. Day 17 — Kirby 3.0
18. Day 18 — Photo Creator
19. Day 19 — B12 Bookings
20. Day 20 — Unlock Protocol

Thank you for reading so far!