Launch Channels

Places founders launch, such as Product Hunt, Hacker News and communities, and what each is good for.

Also known as: launch channels, where to launch, Product Hunt, Hacker News launch

Launch channels are where attention concentrates on launch day: Product Hunt (ranked daily products, tech-early-adopter crowd), Hacker News “Show HN” (brutal, brilliant technical feedback), relevant subreddits and communities, Twitter/X and LinkedIn networks, newsletters, and your own waitlist — usually your highest-converting channel of all.

match channel to goal:  feedback → Hacker News, niche communities
                        users → waitlist, Product Hunt, relevant subreddits
                        credibility → press, analyst coverage (slow, follow up separately)

Each channel has norms; violating them backfires. Show HN demands technical substance and founder presence in comments; Product Hunt rewards preparation (hunter, assets, first-hour votes); communities ban drive-by promotion but welcome genuine members sharing work. Lurk, contribute, then launch — in that order, over weeks.

The classic mistakes:

Launching everywhere thinly. Five channels at 20% effort each underperform one channel done properly. Pick two primary channels and staff them.
Depending on a channel you do not own. Algorithm shifts and moderator moods decide reach. Convert every spike into owned assets: emails, RSS, community members.
No-show founders. Posting and vanishing reads as spam. The founders answer every comment for 24 hours — that responsiveness is half the signal.
Celebrating rank over retention. #1 Product of the Day with 2% activation is a trophy and a churn wave. Optimize the launch for the right users and fast follow-up, not the badge.
One launch, then silence. Attention decays in days. Stack launches: beta, public, 2.0, integrations, milestones — each smaller than the last is fine, the cadence compounds.

After: write up what each channel yielded (users, feedback, press) so the next launch starts from data, not hope. See distribution for turning spikes into durable channels.