Product Hunt

You become who you surround yourself with. If you hang out with builders, it's only a matter of time before you get the itch to ship something. This is why Product Hunt exists, for makers to connect and support each other. Find your tribe.

Don't be afraid to tackle hard problems. When you build a product that solves tough issues, you'll find your tribe and attract other builders who want to join you. Ship, share, get feedback, iterate.

Marketers who can code

I run Product Hunt socials. Tip: Brand accounts are not 1-way channels (!!!) If all you do is post stuff, you're doing it very wrong. - Send DMs to users - Hop on the phone and get coffee - Ask how projects are going - Retweet users’ work - Post about your users - Introduce users to each other - Have fun and send dank memes Go make internet friends. That's how you build a real online community—not with corporate announcements.

"There’s no idea that works on the first try" Doesn't matter if you're a solopreneur or a VC-backed startup, Brian Armstrong's advice is evergreen: "Talk to your customers, improve the product; talk to your customers, improve the product"

What is Product Hunt's Head of Growth #1 advice for building community? There are no shortcuts. DM your users. Become friends with them. Help them meet each other. Share their work. Community is built doing things that don't scale. h/t Jason Levin ✏️ on Building Jam – will link the episode in the comments!

"Surround yourself with people who will make you more ambitious." This advice from Sam Altman applies to every maker and builder. Whether you're an Indie hacker, bootstrapped founder, or VC-backed entrepreneur—find your people and community.

Don't stress over competitors. Your biggest enemy isn't your competitors, but poor execution. Focus on executing well, and use your competitors as a motivation for you to move faster.

The #1 Product Hunt cheat code: "𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱-𝗶𝗻-𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰" Rather than building in private and then worrying about marketing—you build an audience while you're building your startup. "𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴???" you wonder. The answer is so dumb it's smart. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. Read a research paper on your industry? 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥. Just got off a call with a potential customer? 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥. Listen to a good podcast on your industry? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺. Just constantly share about what you're learning. It doesn't matter that you're not an expert billionaire. You're always a step ahead of somebody else on the journey. What you'll find is by doing this consistently, you'll find people in your industry following you and connecting with you. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀—𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆! For more startup marketing strategies, follow me Jason Levin ✏️ P.S. If you think it's unfair people with audiences win on Product Hunt, then you're clearly underestimating the importance of marketing and distribution. "Most businesses get zero distribution channels to work: poor sales rather than bad product is the most common cause of failure." - Peter Thiel Stop complaining, start marketing!

A reminder from Steve Jobs for makers who are doubting themselves: "Everything around you that you call life was made up by people who were no smarter than you." The barrier to building products people want is lower than ever. Just ship it, get feedback, and iterate.