Home / Platform map / Launch platforms
Product Hunt & Indie Hackers launch playbook
Both platforms are free. Product Hunt gives you one concentrated day of exposure; Indie Hackers gives you long-running discussion and your first real users. Their shared rule: they reward people who participated before they needed something.
Product Hunt: a fight prepared two weeks out
- Build the Upcoming page 1–2 weeks early. Followers collect there and get notified on the day.
- Prepare assets before launch week. A tagline within 60 characters, gallery images, a demo video. Making assets on launch day collapses the whole schedule.
- Run on Pacific Time. A Product Hunt day starts at 00:01 PT. Convert it properly (table below) or you will launch halfway through your own day.
- Write the maker's first comment in advance. It is the highest-converting copy slot on the page (template below).
- Red line. Never directly ask for upvotes and never buy votes — that is explicit Product Hunt policy and gets launches unfeatured. Ask for comments and feedback; votes follow or they do not.
Launch-day timetable (Pacific ↔ Beijing)
Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time and 16 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, so 00:01 PT = 15:01 Beijing in daylight saving, 16:01 in standard time. Check which regime your date falls in.
| Pacific (PT) | Beijing | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 00:01 | 15:01 (DST) / 16:01 (standard) | Launch goes live. Maker first comment posted immediately. |
| 00:01–04:00 | 15:01–19:00 / 16:01–20:00 | The decisive window: notify your existing audience — email list, communities, social posts. Early velocity shapes the day. |
| 04:00–09:00 | 19:00–00:00 / 20:00–01:00 (+1 day) | Reply to every comment fast and substantively. Post the Indie Hackers launch thread while the PH page is warm. |
| 09:00–17:00 | 00:00–08:00 / 01:00–09:00 (+1 day) | US working hours: second audience wave. Keep replying; share genuine milestones (questions asked, feedback themes), not vote counts. |
| 17:00–23:59 | 08:00–14:59 / 09:00–15:59 (+1 day) | Final stretch. Thank commenters individually; capture every piece of feedback into your product notes before the day closes. |
Maker first comment: copy-ready template
Hey Product Hunt — I'm [your name], maker of [product].
I built it because [the concrete problem, in one or two sentences — ideally one you personally hit]. Existing options [the gap you kept running into], so [product] does [the one thing it does differently].
What it does today: [feature 1], [feature 2], [feature 3]. It's for [specific audience]; if you're [adjacent audience], it honestly isn't built for you yet.
Launch-day note: [any real launch detail — pricing, a free tier, a roadmap item you're deciding].
I'd especially love feedback on [one specific thing you're unsure about]. I'll be here all day answering everything. Thanks for reading.
I built it because [the concrete problem, in one or two sentences — ideally one you personally hit]. Existing options [the gap you kept running into], so [product] does [the one thing it does differently].
What it does today: [feature 1], [feature 2], [feature 3]. It's for [specific audience]; if you're [adjacent audience], it honestly isn't built for you yet.
Launch-day note: [any real launch detail — pricing, a free tier, a roadmap item you're deciding].
I'd especially love feedback on [one specific thing you're unsure about]. I'll be here all day answering everything. Thanks for reading.
Why it works: problem first, maker present, scope honest (including who it is not for), and it ends with a specific feedback request — specific questions get answers; "thoughts?" gets silence.
Two-week warm-up checklist
- ☐ Day −14 to −10: comment genuinely on other launches and IH threads daily; zero self-promotion
- ☐ Day −10: Upcoming page live; tagline tested on one person who has never seen the product — do they get it in five seconds?
- ☐ Day −7: gallery images and demo video finished; landing page run through the launch checklist
- ☐ Day −5: maker first comment drafted from the template; launch email written, not sent
- ☐ Day −3: warm list assembled — existing users, beta testers, people who replied to your build-in-public posts
- ☐ Day −1: launch scheduled for 00:01 PT; alarms set in Beijing time; reply rota planned so the first 4 hours are covered
- ☐ Day 0: execute the timetable; ask for feedback and comments, never for votes
Indie Hackers: be a regular before you are a launcher
- Email signup, free to post. Your cold start IS your posting history: a brand-new account whose first post is a product ad gets ignored.
- Spend 1–2 weeks replying to others and sharing real progress (building in public) before posting your product.
- Product posts should lead with data and lessons, not adjectives. This community is immune to "six figures" headlines and buys honest numbers and failure write-ups.
A launch is not the finish line: fold the day's PH comments and IH feedback back into your landing page's proof section — that is what converts the next wave. And before the day, walk your landing page with the launch checklist so launch traffic does not die on a broken checkout.