Founder resources
Launch Playbook
The most visited pages on startup-launch sites, plus what to do on each one. Pick one or two channels that fit your audience. Ignore the rest.
Product Hunt
The launch page the tech world checks every morning.
Popular pages
- Today's launches — The homepage feed. Timing your launch here matters more than almost anything.
- Leaderboard — Daily, monthly, and yearly rankings. Study the winners in your category.
- Categories & Topics — Find where your product fits and how crowded that space is.
- Collections — Curated lists. Getting included can drive long-tail traffic.
- Coming soon — Build a waitlist before you ship.
- Launch Guide — Official checklists for the PH algorithm and community norms.
- Makers — Founder profiles. The community rewards real makers, not faceless brands.
What to do
- Post at 12:01 AM Pacific on launch day.
- Prepare a 5-sentence maker comment with your story.
- Create 3+ media assets (gif, screenshot, short video).
- Ask your network to upvote and comment in the first 2 hours.
- Reply to every comment within the first 6 hours.
Tone Maker-first, honest, and conversational. Avoid marketing speak.
Indie Hackers
Bootstrapped founders sharing revenue, learnings, and mistakes.
Popular pages
- Products — A directory sorted by revenue. Validate demand by finding similar earners.
- Stories / Interviews — Founder deep-dives. The best place to learn distribution.
- Milestones — Small wins get celebrated. Share progress, not just launches.
- Groups — Niche communities. Ask for feedback before you launch.
- Podcast — Long-form founder stories. Good for understanding positioning.
What to do
- Share your first dollar or first 10 users as a milestone.
- Post a transparent story with revenue numbers if you can.
- Join a relevant group and give feedback before you ask for it.
- Ask a specific question, not 'what do you think?'.
Tone Transparent, revenue-curious, and helpful. No hype.
Hacker News
A skeptical, technical audience. Quality over polish.
Popular pages
- Show HN — Post a working demo. The bar is technical interest, not design.
- Ask HN — Ask the community for advice or feedback.
- New / Top — Track what the community is engaging with right now.
- Who is hiring — If you're hiring or offering a tool for job seekers, this is a signal.
What to do
- Show a live demo, not a landing page.
- Write the title in plain English with no buzzwords.
- Be in the comments to answer hard questions quickly.
- Post mid-morning Pacific on a weekday.
- Don't ask for upvotes — the community punishes that.
Tone Direct, technical, and no-BS. Let the work speak.
BetaList & Launching Next
Directories for pre-launch and early-stage startups.
Popular pages
- Upcoming startups — Where early adopters browse for beta invites.
- Recently launched — See what just shipped and how it's positioned.
- Submit startup — The submission form. Expect a wait or paid expedite.
- Category browse — Find adjacent products and potential partners.
What to do
- Submit before you have a public launch to build a waitlist.
- Keep the tagline under 10 words.
- Include a screenshot or simple demo GIF.
- Follow up when you launch publicly.
Tone Early and scrappy. A beta invite is the goal.
Niche communities. Respect the rules or get banned.
Popular pages
- r/SideProject — Friendly feedback on weekend projects and MVPs.
- r/alphaandbetausers — Find your first testers.
- r/startups — Broader founder discussion.
- r/SaaS — If you're building a B2B SaaS, this is your room.
- r/Entrepreneur — General business and motivation.
What to do
- Lurk for a week before posting.
- Share your story, not just your link.
- Answer every question in the comments.
- Follow each subreddit's self-promotion rules exactly.
Tone Honest, human, and community-native. Read the sidebar first.
Twitter / X
The fastest place to build in public.
Popular pages
- Your own timeline — Build in public consistently. Launches are part of a longer story.
- Founder & maker lists — Get added to curated lists for your niche.
- Reply threads — The best distribution often comes from replying to bigger accounts.
What to do
- Document 1 small win or lesson every day for 30 days before launch.
- Tag the platform when you launch (e.g., @ProductHunt).
- Pin a thread with screenshots, link, and story.
- Reply to every comment in the first hour.
Tone Conversational, iterative, and personal. Show the work.
B2B, enterprise, and professional audiences.
Popular pages
- Personal feed — Founder posts outperform company pages.
- LinkedIn Groups — Niche professional communities.
- Newsletters — Long-form thought leadership builds trust before launch.
What to do
- Write a founder post about the problem, not the product.
- Tag 2-3 people who helped or inspired the work.
- Use a clean screenshot or carousel.
- Ask a question in the first line to drive comments.
Tone Professional, story-driven, and problem-focused.
A simple launch sequence
- 1. Build a small waitlist (BetaList, Twitter, landing page).
- 2. Post on your strongest 1-2 channels, not all of them.
- 3. Stay in the comments for the first 4 hours.
- 4. Turn the best feedback into a follow-up milestone or story.
- 5. Email your waitlist 24 hours after the public launch.