I learned how naive I was after my first launch. What about you?

Question

Hi, I’m Derek. I joined Product Hunt a month ago with the same goal as many of you: I had my product ready and wanted to get it known by more people, hoping people find it useful. I started by actively engaging with the community, providing thoughtful comments, sharing useful tips, studying FAQs, and learning from others’ posts. I carefully prepared my launch page and followed all the recommended steps from every launch tip I could find. Confident in the abilities and features of my tool, and considering the time and effort I put into building it and preparing the launch, I was eager Trangram would be featured... However, everything went completely off-plan... (That’s another long story I could write a separate post on Medium, No, I don’t even have an account yet)... In the end, Trangram launched unexpectedly on Sept 10, but I’m grateful it got featured, even though I had to compete with some big players that day (later, I found out Apple had three featured products!). During launch day, I’m so thankful for everyone who supported me and Trangram, it made me feel like my effort putting into building Trangram and previous contributions on PH were worth it. The ranking didn’t bother me since I wasn’t aiming for the top 10, let alone Product of the Day. I feel fortunate to have been featured and to receive so much support from you all. Some of you may not know, but before joining PH, I was almost completely off social media. I had just two followers on X/Twitter and Reddit, that was all my external support during launch. Taking this opportunity, I want to give a big thank you to @LearoTech, who I knew just a few days ago. He followed me all the way from Reddit and Twitter and even created a PH account just to support Trangram’s launch. On top of that, he wrote a Medium post introducing Trangram, which I didn’t discover until late last night. I also want to express deep appreciation to @TheHighSecond from X/Twitter. We didn’t know each other, but he posted asking people to support Trangram on the launch day. I did receive many emails offering upvote services on PH right before launch, some even claimed that products ranking #1 were 'helped' by them, which of course, I had no clues to prove what they claimed, but I believe most of us who trust in our products and want a fair game would ignore those offers, regardless of the result. Having experienced my first launch, here's my advice to future makers: 1. Take time to build your product and make yourself believe in it first. 2. Learn about PH (or any other launch platform) and understand how it can help you and your product. ("In every case, just don't take anything at face value." from @karl_mechkin, hope you don't mind me quoting you again without asking, just couldn't think of a better word) 3. Take time to engage with the community and build relationships. 4. Adjust your expectations based on what you learn, hope for the best but expect the worst. I hope this helps! Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Anbang Xu · Accepted Answer

After my first launch, I realized how much I underestimated the importance of user feedback and market validation. It was a humbling experience that taught me to be more adaptable and to always prioritize solving real problems over just building cool features.

Anbang Xu · Answer

After my first launch, I realized how much I underestimated the importance of user feedback and market validation. It was a humbling experience that taught me to be more adaptable and to focus on solving real problems rather than just building cool features.

Derek Liu · Answer

@vocabularyexpertapp @aigenie Thanks for sharing! Just a heads-up, once you change your username, your previous "@ mention" in discussions and comments will no longer work as it links to 404 (not found) :)

Max Zhang · Answer

The help you gained from the community sounds amazing! The kind gestures from community members definitely make ProductHunt a unique place for every one of us.

xavi · Answer

@vocabularyexpertapp @derek_liu_dev oh I didn't know that those previous links will not work. Good to know, thanks.

Derek Liu · Answer

@vocabularyexpertapp Thanks for your honest sharing! You're not alone (I did the same during my first trial on HN), we all learned the hard way. 1. I have seen people here change their username. I'm not sure how, but it's possible. 2. Having strong connections (which I don’t) here definitely helps on launch day, but strong external connections (which I also don’t have) are equally important for getting votes, based on my observations. However, the most important factor is getting your product featured on the home page. Otherwise, it’s almost as if you never launched. That said, being featured is somewhat out of our control. 3. Never mind! As long as we learn from our experiences and make it count in the future :) Best wishes for your new product!

xavi · Answer

@vocabularyexpertapp I have changed my username editing the profile. They allow it once in every 30 days.

Anmol Momin · Answer

I was very naive.

1 - I created an account here on my product name instead of my name. Now I can't change the username. 
2 - I created a product launch on my 1st day and scheduled it for the next day. - DISASTER
3 - I explored Product Hunt after my launch. I lost on so much because of that.

I'm launching another great product soon. Hope this time I'll utilize the resources well enough.

Zoe Vivian Thornton · Answer

Oh yes, my first launch was quite humbling! I thought I had it all figured out, but quickly realized how much there still was to learn. It's all part of the journey though - each launch teaches valuable lessons to apply to the next one. Wishing you the best on your current projects! The PH community is a great place to continue sharing insights and learning from each other even post-launch.

Business Marketing with Nika · Answer

Thank you, Derek, for your contribution! :) I hope that I can see you on this platform even after the launch because you have very good insights and find your insights and POV valuable :)  Wish you GL with any project you are going to build.

Answer

Haha I feel you! On my first launch I thought I had everything planned perfectly, but quickly realized how many things I overlooked. But you learn a ton going through the process, even if it's a bit painful at times. My biggest takeaway was the importance of getting real user feedback early and often. Don't build in a vacuum assuming you know what people want - put something out there, see how people react, and iterate fast. Wishing you the best on your next launch!

Anmol Momin · Answer

@aigenie @derek_liu_dev And what about my previous launches and products?

Karen Anderson · Answer

I was pretty naive too! Thought my first product would be an instant hit. Learned a lot from that initial launch - the importance of really understanding the market, getting early feedback, iterating fast. It's a journey and we're all learning as we go. Thanks for sharing your experience, helps newbies like me feel less alone in the struggles of launching something new. Keep up the great work and insights!

Mia Sophia Walker · Answer

Oh I feel you, my first launch was a whirlwind too. Learned so much the hard way haha. Biggest lesson for me was not taking user onboarding seriously enough. I naively thought the product would speak for itself but boy was I wrong. You really gotta hold the user's hand at first. What about you, what was your biggest takeaway? Anyways, keep rockin it and hope to see you around PH more, good folks like you make the community great. Best of luck on your next projects!

xavi · Answer

Thank you Derek for sharing your candid observations. I completely agree with you and feel the same way too.

I learned how naive I was after my first launch. What about you?

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