I Launched Gradientify on Product Hunt. Here's What I Learned

I Launched Gradientify on Product Hunt. Here's What I Learned

On 14th Aug, I launched my side Product Gradientify on Product Hunt.

Gradientify is a web-based all-one gradient editor that helps developers and designers to find the perfect gradient for their next projects.

Gradientify - Find the perfect gradient for your next projects. | Product Hunt

I was so excited to share it with the Product Hunt community, as it is one of the biggest platforms to launch your products. The major reason behind the Product Hunt launch, I was eager to share it with other developers, and designers, Product discovery was the major reason. I found Product Hunt to be the best place to start.

The launch day was amazing as it made it to the #1 Product of the day, and also made it to the Product Hunt newsletter, I was super excited when I got to know that it made it to the Product Hunt newsletter.

Here’s what I learned in the journey of building and shipping a product from scratch!

👀 A Project is really never complete

A project is really never complete, So it’s important to set a deadline for completing the project and hold off on launching because you will continue to add new features post-launch and in the future also.

For a first product make sure it’s something you can complete, it’s important to be realistic. Make a list of features you would like to incorporate and set some clear goals. Overcomplicating will only delay its launch. Avoid being too ambitious. It’s important to resist the urge to add new features.

Also, it’s important not to chase perfection, you don’t wanna get stuck working on the same product again and again worrying about the smallest details.

The fastest way to learn is by launching and sharing things with others. This will enable you to get feedback. Therefore, it's better to just ship something that isn't perfect than to spend ages tweaking every single thing until you get frustrated and give up on it entirely.

I made a list of features that I would love to incorporate into Gradientify. It helped me to be more organized and work in a clear manner.

⌛ Picking a launch time

Every day hundreds of products are launched on Product Hunt, but only a few make it to the home page section. So it’s important to choose the launch day wisely.

It’s important to know that Product Hunt does not adjust for different time zones. i.e Product Hunt day begins at midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST) and runs until 11.59 pm. Make sure visitors have enough time to check out your product. I launch at 12:01 am PST on 14th to ensure the visitors have a full 24-hour period.

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday get more competition than other weekdays (Monday & Friday) whereas weekends have even lesser competition (Saturday & Sunday).

Consider your launch goal when deciding on the launch day

What's your Product Hunt launch goal?

  1. Product of the day badge to show it on your website / social proof
  2. Maximum awareness from your launch

For the 1st goal, launch on weekends. For the 2nd goal, launch on Wednesday or Thursday.

I decided to go on Sunday as there is less competition.

⭐Create a High-Converting Landing Page

Buy a memorable domain and set up your high converting landing page.

Gradientify was an easy name for me to come up with. I didn't have to brainstorm over the name, it also sounded modern to me. To ensure I don't lose the name, I bought the domain from NameCheap even before I began working on the project.

I made a landing page & opened up a waitlist for early access. I shared it with my network and collected over 50 emails. Always be in touch with your mailing lists. On the launch day, I could easily send emails to the people who joined the waitlist and notify them about the Product Hunt launch.

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🤼 Build your community

One of my favorite books, Share Your Work, by Austin Kleon, has helped me comprehend the benefits of sharing your work online. Initially, I was afraid to share my work online worrying about what people would say.

Sharing your work online also helps you build connections with inspiring people.

I was sharing my progress about Gradientify right from the opening of the waitlist to the Launching Process on Twitter and other platforms, All the way along I shared my progress on what I was building and asked for feedback for the same.

In between I was sharing Teaser’s Scripts, some sneak peeks into the design, and new features I was adding along the way. It can be your debug, a typo in code, or anything else.

By sharing your work online, you can build meaningful connections that can potentially translate into support on launch day. You can also create some anticipation with your existing users, audience, and community.

People can invest in you and help shape your products. Create anticipation about the product on public channels.

People are more likely to tell others about you and your work if they like you or it. Take advantage of Twitter and other social media platforms to engage with the tech community. It will make a huge difference for you.

👨 No Hunter? No Problem

Before we dive into hunting the product, let’s just understand the benefit of getting hunted.

When someone hunts your product, Product Hunt sends a push notification to his/her followers and many of them check your product. (In the past, all followers of a Hunter received an email notification that a new product was being launched.)

This brings more upvotes and engagement which helps you in getting into the top 5 products of the day.

How to find a Hunter?

Search for products that you feel are similar to yours and see who has hunted them. Then connect with Hunters through Email & Twitter. Twitter works best and most hunters have Twitter DMs open.

Each hunt represents Hunter's portfolio. They take extra care before saying "Yes" to any hunting product. Build a quality product and establish a connection with Hunter first.

I was able to get “Yes” from the Hunter, Thanks to Twitter and Building in Public.

Having a hunter to hunt your product is a plus, but not a necessity. Not having a hunter should not stop you from delaying your launch. You can also hunt your own product.

According to Product Hunt stats, 79% of featured posts were self-hunted over the last 6 months.

60% of #1 Product of the Day were hunted by the makers themselves.

Don’t let finding a hunter distract you. Focus on finding true fans, who will be your first users, not short-lived perceived games.

🎸 Feedback is key

The best way to grow your product is to get feedback from your users. Don't be afraid to share what you're building with the community. Be sure to ask for feedback so it can get better and better.

Talk with the community, Ask the community to know what kind of input they’re looking for.

Reply to comments - keep an eye on the comments throughout the launch day and engage with your supporters.

Take note of the feedback your users give you. It will be helpful to ask users what features they'd like to see, how you can improve user experience and user interface, and what your project could become.

I collected feedback from Twitter, Instagram, and everywhere I could share this. This helped me find tiny bugs, and build it into something bigger, and better.

✅ Make a Pre-launch Checklist

Having a Pre-launch checklist will make you even more organized, so you don’t have to worry about the last-minute buzz. This is what my launch checklist looks like, It can vary as per your requirement.

Here’s the pre-launch checklist:

  1. Preparing launch day assets - This should include your PH product page images, social media header and post images, etc.
  2. Write and schedule all the social media posts and emails. This includes announcements, countdowns, reminders, etc.
  3. Posting on different social media platforms. Post on dev.to, Post on Instagram, Post on Twitter, and more.
  4. Sharing the launch with my peeps.

Prepare your launch day assets ahead of time probably a day or two before avoiding last minute rush (Description, Gallery Images, Video (Optional) )

Draft your first(maker) comment - Be helpful and humble. Think of it not only as a way for the community to learn about the product itself but for them to get to know the makers and the building process behind it.

Activate your audience on Launch Day - Share your launch on all your channels and get your community involved. Don’t ask for upvotes or be spammy. Also if you have your own newsletter you can send an email.

Share on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Discord.

🔢 Don't skip analytics

Product Hunt provides you with some statistics on your launches, including your position in their daily charts and the number of upvotes and comments you received.

Use the dashboard to follow your progress and keep track of incoming comments and reviews that you may want to respond to.

However, it's important to add an analytics tracker. It will help you monitor the traffic and other stats your product gets on launch day and beyond.

I went with Google Analytics. You won’t have to spend more than 10 minutes setting everything up. It provides me with the data that is useful for me on launch day. (number of unique visitors, bounce rate, device used to view my site, and more)

You can also go with plausible which is a simple and privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative.

Here are the launch insights after 1 week

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🤔Why you should launch on Product Hunt

Product Hunt is one of the largest platforms out there for both product makers and product enthusiasts. The Product Hunt community is extremely supportive

It not only helps your product be discoverable but it also provides feedback that helps your product to shape and build a better version of it.

You can gain a lot of value from the product Hunt launch.

  • Distribution - Helps you to gain Website traffic, brand visibility, Social buzz, Awards & Recognition.
  • Connection - Launching on Product Hunt helps you build some good connections with like-minded people, thus you can also build your community out there.
  • Feedback - Your primary focus as a maker should be to listen to the community and give them what they exactly need. Users will suggest features that they’d like to see whether they can be related to User experience, user interface, or tiniest details. Take note of the smallest thing this will help you build your product into something bigger and better.

🚀 Post Launch

⚡ If you’ve got it flaunt it!

If you got the top Product badge, add it to your product. Take advantage of your achievements to create more social proof.

🙏 It’s time to thank you, supporters.

keep up with the momentum, and follow up with those who supported you. Thank them for their support.

✨️ Conclusion

Launching Gradientify on Product Hunt was one of the best experiences I ever had. There is still a lot to learn. There is a long way to go. I keep on writing stuff as I learn along the way.

I’ve got connected with some amazing people on Twitter on other platforms.

Hope you enjoyed this article, Share it with your designers and developers friends and let them know about gradientify.

You can also follow me on Twitter to know what building and shipping useful products look like.

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