Can Indie Hackers save a ProductHunt launch
This morning we launched on ProductHunt ... using our just 'ship it' mindset from this weekend.
We have been receiving great feedback and we were expecting a huge launch to come from ProductHunt, but I guess there is more to it than just putting your product out there.
Our Product:
A Discord Server where you can have conversational study sessions with your different engineering AI textbooks.
Thanks to GPT3 for putting this amount of power in the hands of creators with not nearly that amount of data.
So now I look to you IndieHackers <3, can I make a turn around ... can we possibly make this turn around.
Trending on Indie Hackers
how are you tracking?
What is unclear for me is -- your niche audience = engineering students in xx (yes?). Confused why you thought PH would help as your product is about substance (aka engineering content exchange), helping one another (real community - in it together).
Also confused by your pricing model. If your target is engineering students, we all know students have little money and would not want to be constrained by x input as they explore the platform. Plus as generalization engineers have a strong radar for fluff + fake. Meaning they are evidence based decision makers. Evidence based decision makers who themselves are highly capable at building stuff must 'experience' value. Not a little bit. Big dosh of it. Waste of time telling an 'evidence-based dm' about value.
Suggestion: Consider strategy to make it super easier (frictionless) for them to experience it, and rave it about it. Iterate fast.. make the first passionate/active 100 signups catalysts (the ravers, the insight generators of why your platform is 'the' place to be be). ChatGPT preview rollout is for me the best example of that. In general the lay community was nervous about AI. Even some techies. But within 2months reach 1M users. They experienced it. They played it. It was a competition to see how funny we could make it. That is the role model for me in your space.
Growth: Once the platform gets traction aka 500* users, you can pivot to different pricing model (like the one you have now). For now you need "use" . That is butts on seats, using the platform, interacting, generating value thru the exchange. Is that not the 'real problem' your platform is trying to solve?? Tell me if I have misunderstood.. (* can be whatever target you desire)
Thank you so much for the long message with real/actual input.
100% agree. PH was a terrible idea for the launch. It works best for B2B and microSaaS
I have previously launched side projects there that were in that space, that worked there but didn’t actually use first principle thinking.
I agree. You are just very very strapped for cash, all recent graduates and I recently immigrated to the US in search of entrepreneurial opportunities and just scarping by.
The API costs and AWS compute costs were already expensive for us.
Now that the ChatGPT API is out we can integrate that, busy as we speak at 1am [ET].
We hope giving people more prompts to see the value prop will make them daily active users and convert to paying users.
Although the aren’t converting yet, on thing is happening and that is users are spreading the word through mouth and keep telling us how much they love our product and how excited they are to see it grow.
Thank you so much.
discovered this for technical papers that has a nice interaction https://www.humata.ai/
super! Hope WOM (word of mouth) spreads fast.
Be awesome when such study platforms can literally be fed the course circulum textbooks aka ebook --> feed chatgpt api. They are all digital so why not ....
Save big on textbook costs too as the study group just need to buy 1. copy.
Keep us posted with the results! very interested
Thanks
Will do.
Yes, Indie Hackers can potentially save a ProductHunt launch.
Indie Hackers is a community of entrepreneurs and makers who are focused on building and launching their own products. By participating in the Indie Hackers community, makers can get feedback on their products, learn from others' experiences, and potentially gain support for their launch on ProductHunt.
However, it's important to note that success on ProductHunt ultimately depends on the quality and value of the product, as well as the efforts put into marketing and engagement.