Gabe Perez

10d ago

I decide what's featured on the leaderboard - AMA w/ Gabe from Product Hunt

Hi everyone, Gabe here! I lead curating Product Hunt's leaderboard.

First thing I will say is that if I could feature every single product that works, I would. I love supporting makers and demoing products. I actually try to test every single thing that gets hunted every day... which is A TON.  But I view our job as to surface the most interesting, novel, useful, and innovative products - daily. Now we may not always get it right, the process isn't perfect, but we're trying to do right by the community.

Hopefully, you've noticed that over the past months the quality of the leaderboard has felt really good. (Please share your thoughts!) Some of the things that I've been doing aside from testing and reviewing products is reaching out to makers to help them with their launches, provide feedback on why something may not be featurable, and help makers craft their best launch as possible. Scalable -> no.  Huge impact -> I think so. I'm working with the team on how to create a more scalable version of this but for now just know I try to make myself available to you all.

Top mistakes I've seen

  • Product is waitlisted

  • People schedule a draft.... (we have a draft function!)

  • Maker's profile is their product/business and not an actual user account

  • Tagline does not describe the product ie. "Best way to earn users" vs "Capture user data with a single button in your iOS app"

  • Too much marketing jargon, not enough product description / story

  • NO PRODUCT SHOTS/VIDEOS -> just marketing fluff images

  • Only one image that is a low quality screenshot

  • Using a paid service for upvotes/hunters -> this will get you unfeatured or severely impact your launch

Some other notes to consider:

  • We've gotten stricter on keeping true to our Featuring Guidelines.

  • We highly recommend making a draft and sharing with folks to make sure it passes the "mom test" -> do they get what you're launching?

  • If you can quickly Google a solution that similar to what you're launching then really make sure your launch stands out. Focus on highlighting what's special about your product vs being too general.

  • Highly recommend having a loom or some sort of visual that showcases the start process, the end result your product produces, and what's special about your product.

  • Be honest, authentic, and have fun.

With all that being said, AMA! I'll try to answer as much as I can without getting fired

Juan Secchi

7d ago

Product of the Week Winners : March 17 - 23 Spotlight

Hey Product Hunt community!

Hope you're having a productive start to your week!

We've got another impressive lineup of Product of the Week winners to highlight. These innovative tools are solving real problems in creative ways:

  1. Sider 5.0 by @Sider: ChatGPT sidebar Chrome extension

    Sider 5.0 Deep Research mimics human research by auto-scanning 100+ sources, reflecting, noting and highlighting insights. It crafts expert-level, interactive reports in minutes. All findings are auto-saved to Wisebase—AI knowledge base that evolves with you.

  2. @Aha

    Meet the world's first multi-agent team working on influencer marketing, with built-in scalability for any industry. Whether to increase brand awareness, drive sales or enhance business growth, Aha AI team delivers results that exceed expectations.

  3. @Kintsugi

    Kintsugi's AI-driven platform doesn't just simplify sales tax; it transforms it. From precise tax calculations and real-time exposure monitoring to seamless filing and remittance, we automate the entire sales tax lifecycle.

  4. Twos PALs by @Twos

    Personal Active Lists (PALs) take what you write and automatically create reminders/events, detect tasks, get product links, map directions, and 30+ more use-cases. "AI features that are genuinely helpful, not just gimmicks."

  5. @Epiphany

    Epiphany is the fastest, most frictionless way to capture your ideas with voice and create actions with them in tools like Notion, Asana, Todoist, Clickup, Obsidian, and more. Stop losing ideas to distraction, and start putting them to work.

Big congrats to all these talented product teams!

Curious to know: Which of these products addresses a problem you've personally struggled with? What's your current solution for that challenge?

Think about it: If you could only use one of these products for the next month, which would make the biggest difference in your daily workflow?

What are your thoughts? Share below!

Juan from PH

Elly

4d ago

A New Idea for Product Hunt Makers: Targeted Launch Notifications for Relevant Audiences

One challenge for Makers launching on Product Hunt is getting in front of the right audience—especially for first-time launchers.

I think it would be helpful if Makers could notify followers of similar products about their new launch. Just like how we get updates from people we follow, users who are interested in similar products could receive a friendly notification about a new launch.

Example Notification: "Looks like you're interested in no-code web builders like $Bubble! Check out $SlashPage—a game-changing no-code tool where you can create everything from blogs to communities with just a click!"

Since Product Hunt members are generally enthusiastic about discovering new products, many would likely appreciate receiving these notifications rather than seeing them as spam. Of course, an option to turn off these notifications would be essential.

How this Could Work:

  • When registering a product launch, Makers could select a few similar products. A launch notification would then be sent to followers of those similar products.

  • This could be a paid promotion or something redeemable with Kitty Points.

  • The feature could be available only to Makers who reach a certain engagement level on Product Hunt (e.g., Silver tier or higher), encouraging more active participation on the platform.

Things to Consider:

  • Product Hunt would need to ensure that the selected similar products are relevant.

  • A decision would need to be made whether to notify all followers of the similar products or just a subset.

  • Notifications should be limited to users who have been recently active to ensure higher engagement.

  • This approach could reduce the "I upvoted your product, so please upvote mine" type of exchange, as it would offer a more organic way for Makers to reach users who are genuinely interested in their product.

I’d love to hear what others think about this idea. Would it be useful for the community?

Rajiv Ayyangar

28d ago

I'm the Product Hunt CEO, and I've launched 8 times on PH. AMA (unfiltered)

Product Hunt changed my life. A year ago I stepped in as CEO, and a couple weeks ago we launched Product Forums (which you're reading this on!). Before that I founded and launched @Tandem (virtual office - YC S19), and @Cryptagon.io.

Ask me anything about Product Hunt, launching, startups, YC, or what we're trying to do with forums!

Juan Secchi

14d ago

Product of the Week Winners: March 10-16 Spotlight

Hey there, Product Hunters!

Already another Monday, can you believe it?

Let's dive right into the standout products that earned the spotlight this past week. Each of these tools solves a real problem in a unique way:

  1. @Skarbe

    Sales flexing platform built specifically for SMB - people who sell and hate CRMs. Unlike legacy CRMs made for spreadsheet lovers, Skarbe is for closers. Automates deal tracking, email follow-ups, call recordings and meeting insights to save you 2 hours a day.

  2. TheySaid 2.0 by @Theysaid

    An AI survey product that goes beyond traditional forms. TheySaid is more than a survey, it's an opportunity to engage your customers, employees, donors, and others. Training AI takes less than 1 min by pointing it to a URL or internal doc. Your audience can answer and ask questions as if they are talking to you!

  3. @Fluently: AI English coach

    An AI-powered English coaching platform designed for non-native speakers. Fluently helps you improve your vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar to build confidence in professional settings. Available whenever you need it, at a more accessible price point than traditional tutoring.

  4. Wispr Flow for Windows by @Wispr Flow

    Tired of typing? Wispr Flow for Windows lets you speak naturally and see your words perfectly formatted—no extra edits, no typos. It's the easiest way to write 3x faster across all your apps.

  5. @Zencoder

    AI coding assistant helping developers ship products faster. With deep contextual awareness, AI agents, and 20+ integrations, they help developers effortlessly build production ready solutions, right inside VS Code and JetBrains.

Huge props to these makers for bringing their vision to life!

Quick question: Which of these tools would actually solve a pain point in your daily work? And if you've tried any similar products before, how did they fall short?

Prediction time: Which of these five do you think has the most potential to disrupt its market? I'm curious to see what the community thinks!

I've personally tested Wispr Flow and it just works. It feels great to use, it's fun, and the best part is that it makes me want to write down my thoughts and move ideas to text, because I know how easy it is.

Drop a comment with your thoughts!

Juan from PH

Nika

1mo ago

Stricter Discussions (Forums) on the Product Hunt – Bad or Good?

A few days ago I saw some posts here about:

– the number of discussions is decreasing,

– sometimes they are approved later,

– that there is "other community growth" – I don't know what was meant by that and I'm just guessing.

Yes, the conditions have changed – Forums are more moderated and rules are strict, hoping to bring more value and engagement of active (real) users.

https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/10478791-product-hunt-forum-guidelines

In general:

  • discussion shouldn't be "egocentric" but should invite to be a part of it (actively discuss)

  • should bring a value – something to learn, find out

  • shouldn't be replicable – not something, that can be easily found on the internet

= It should result in quality and genuine discussion with interactions.

I also find it harder to come up with a new topic that is unique while sticking to the rules, but I assume it raises the bar.

How do you perceive this updated Forum format and its new rules?

Just a few quick tips to create discussions that have a chance to be shared:

  • Ask questions: Opinions, experiences, lessons learned.

  • React to news, new situations in the world, and discuss current events.

  • Follow up on other people's forums, referencing their questions that prompted other questions.

  • Talk about products, their gaps, improvements, and useful use-cases. (That's what product forums are for.)