Product Hunt Playbook

---
name: product-hunt-playbook
version: 1.7.0
description: |
  It's 11pm before your launch. Your PH page is ready but you have no idea what actually moves the ranking algorithm. Upvotes? Comments? Time-of-day? This is the hour-by-hour operations manual from someone who's coached 30+ #1 finishes.

  What's inside:
  • Ranking algorithm deep-dive (it's not just upvotes — weighted factors decoded)
  • Launch day minute-by-minute checklist (PST timing, first 3 hours are critical)
  • Voter mobilization strategies (ethical, anti-spam-safe approaches)
  • Asset preparation templates (gallery, tagline ≤60 chars, maker comments)
  • Post-launch 72h momentum plan (convert PH traffic → retained users)

  Built from: 30+ PH #1 daily wins, 10+ weekly top 3, 2 monthly top 5. 3,000-5,000+ upvotes per launch.

  Triggers: "Product Hunt" | "PH launch" | "Product Hunt #1" | "PH ranking" | "Product Hunt strategy" | "PH upvotes" | "launch day" | "PH打榜" | "Product Hunt攻略" | "PH ranking algorithm"
source: https://github.com/Gingiris-1031/gingiris-skills/tree/main/skills/product-hunt-playbook
tags:
  - product-hunt
  - launch
  - ph-strategy
  - daily-1
  - hunter
  - upvotes
  - product-launch
  - startup-launch
  - makers
  - go-to-market
  - claude-code
  - ai-agent-skill
  - agent-skill
  - latest
---

## ⚠️ 2C 产品慎用 Product Hunt

本 skill 默认 dev / maker / B2B 受众。**2C 消费品 / 教育 / 应用 / 游戏**：Product Hunt 受众是 maker/科技人，与普通消费者错配、ROI 极低——最多发一次拿个 badge。请把精力换到 **垂类社区（Reddit / 小红书 / 知乎 / Naver 카페）+ 短视频（TikTok / 抖音 / YouTube）+ 垂直 KOL**，并用"免费产品当钩子"做转化。完整 2C 渠道数据库（各国 MAU + 公开来源）+ 三路 Launch 分叉见 → `gingiris-seo-geo/references/2c-adaptation.md`（及 `gingiris-launch`）。

---

## 📦 Install

```bash
clawhub install product-hunt-playbook
```

**What you get after installing:**
- 24-hour battle plan with hour-by-hour tactics for launch day
- Ranking algorithm deep-dive — weighted factors decoded (it's not just upvotes)
- Post-launch 72h momentum plan to convert PH traffic into retained users

---

# Product Hunt Launch Playbook

> 🌍 **Language / 语言**: [中文](#中文版) | [English](references/en/README.md) | [日本語](references/ja/README.md) | [한국어](references/ko/README.md)

> **30x Daily #1 | 3x Weekly #1 | 1x Monthly #1**

## What You Get

- 📅 **24-hour battle plan** — hour-by-hour tactics for launch day
- 🎯 **Ranking algorithm insights** — how PH ranking actually works
- 👥 **Community mobilization** — activate your network without violating rules
- 💬 **Maker comments strategy** — engaging with voters effectively
- 📊 **Post-launch momentum** — converting PH traffic to users

## 📚 Free Resources

**GitHub Playbook (Free):**
```bash
clawhub install gingiris-launch
```
Or read: [Gingiris Launch Playbook](https://github.com/Gingiris-1031/gingiris-skills/tree/main/skills/gingiris-launch)

## 💎 Premium Deep-Dive

**[Product Hunt Launch Action Guide](https://gingiris.gumroad.com/l/zxamur)** — ¥99
- Complete hour-by-hour timeline
- Hunter selection framework
- Community mobilization templates
- Post-launch conversion playbook

**[Complete Launch Bundle](https://gingiris.gumroad.com/l/gingiris-complete-global-launch-bundle)** — All 4 playbooks

## 🎯 1-on-1 Launch Coaching

**Work directly with Iris (30x PH #1 Winner, AFFiNE Co-founder):**

| Service | Price | Best For |
|---------|-------|----------|
| 30 min session | ¥800 | Quick launch review |
| 60 min session | ¥1500 | Full strategy session |
| Monthly retainer | ¥7000/mo | Ongoing launch support |

👉 **Book now: [gingiris.tools/services](https://gingiris.tools)**

## Launch-Day Ops Addendum (2026 field data)

### Hour-by-hour support hygiene

1. Watch support **quality and rate**, not just the total. Historical launches were reviewed in roughly two-hour windows; abrupt bursts and low-context accounts were more likely to be removed. Treat ~100 upvotes/hour as an operational warning line, not an algorithm guarantee.
2. If the count drops, pause amplification and audit sources. Do not compensate with another blast.
3. Ask only real users and existing community members to visit voluntarily and leave an authentic comment. Never buy accounts or votes, coordinate vote exchanges, conceal identity/network origin, or instruct supporters to evade platform controls.

### Decide which badge you're buying before you spend

Daily, weekly and monthly are not the same prize: weekly exposure ≈ 7x daily, monthly ≈ 30x. Aiming monthly → launch the second or third Tuesday of the month. Only need the daily badge → Friday–Sunday competition is thinner.

### Budget and fit reality check

- Do not infer a universal spend-to-vote rate. Historical outcomes varied by audience fit, account quality, assets, timing and platform review.
- With a small budget, redirect effort: the field notes found that roughly ten relevant X KOC collaborations often beat a PH-only push on registrations. Historical directional benchmarks were PH exposure→upvote around 1% and Reddit OSS exposure→star around 5–8%; validate against your own cohort before budgeting.
- One anonymized field case (an AI Agent product, 2025-12): a 500K-visit launch day engineered across Twitter/Reddit/YouTube/groups produced ~800 signups at $6.25 CAC. Traffic ≠ conversion — plan the funnel, not just the spike.
- AFFiNE Apple Notes case (2024-02 launch): a three-person operations team coordinated 30 Twitter/LinkedIn KOLs and 24-hour multi-channel distribution. The project note reports 700K+ impressions and 1,000+ upvotes in 24 hours, monthly #8 within 96 hours, plus daily #2 and weekly #2. Treat these as self-reported historical figures—not a vote-per-KOL benchmark or causal guarantee.

### Split launch day and leaderboard day

Route half your amplifiers to the website on announcement day, the other half to PH on badge day. Cramming both goals into 24 hours makes each dilute the other.

## Evidence-backed operating sequence

1. **T−21 to T−14:** make the maker profile credible through normal participation; finalize positioning and audience fit.
2. **T−14 to T−7:** create Coming Soon, select a hunter only if their audience/feature access helps, and review every asset yourself. A hunter is not a source of votes.
3. **T−7 to T−1:** observe recent competition for 1–3 weeks; prepare the maker comment, FAQ, demo, community destination and per-channel UTMs.
4. **Launch day:** publish the first maker comment with the offer and community destination; answer questions; monitor source-level visits, activations and suspicious spikes every two hours.
5. **T+1 to T+7:** move B2C leads into Discord/forum and B2B leads into Slack/community or a qualified demo flow. Report visits → signup → activation → retained/paid, not badge alone.

Historical planning heuristics: weekly visibility was roughly 7× daily and monthly roughly 30×; use the second/third Tuesday when attempting a monthly run, or Friday–Sunday when the goal is a less competitive daily launch. These are case observations, not current PH guarantees.

Source notes and field-case boundaries: `references/iris-field-notes.md`.

## Related Skills

- [gingiris-launch](https://github.com/Gingiris-1031/gingiris-skills/tree/main/skills/gingiris-launch) — Full GTM playbook
- [gingiris-opensource](https://github.com/Gingiris-1031/gingiris-skills/tree/main/skills/gingiris-opensource) — OSS marketing
- [gingiris-b2b-growth](https://github.com/Gingiris-1031/gingiris-skills/tree/main/skills/gingiris-b2b-growth) — B2B SaaS growth

---

*Author: Iris (生姜iris) | [gingiris.tools](https://gingiris.tools)*

---

## 🔗 About the Author

**Iris Wei** — Growth consultant for 150+ AI startups. Ex-COO at AFFiNE (69K GitHub stars).

- 🐦 Twitter: [@WeiYipei](https://twitter.com/WeiYipei) — Daily growth tactics
- 💬 Consulting: [@Iris_carrot on Telegram](https://t.me/Iris_carrot)
- 🛒 Premium (templates + case studies): [Get on Gumroad](https://gingiris.gumroad.com/l/zxamur)
- 📦 Full Bundle ($249): [All 5 Playbooks](https://gingiris.gumroad.com/l/gingiris-complete-global-launch-bundle)
- 📚 40+ Free Playbooks: [gingiris.tools/skills](https://gingiris.tools/skills/)