How Clueso hit #1 on Product Hunt

Journey to the Launch

Since it was our first launch ever on Product Hunt, we started from scratch - understanding all about launching on Product Hunt. If you are at a similar stage these articles by Product Hunt would be a good place to start. If you are working with a team (which was the case for us), make sure everyone goes through these to get a basic understanding of the workings of the launch.

We took around a day or two to get started and get done with basic research on the following –

Choosing a Launch day 

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the busiest days on PH, meaning on these days the traffic on PH is quite high. Mondays and Fridays are quieter and Weekends see the lowest traffic. 

Fixing a launch day is one of the major decisions you’d be taking with respect to your goal and current circumstances. For example, you may want to target a high traffic day to get more visits on your landing page, however, you’ll face more competition to get ranked in top 5 on these days as a lot of bigger companies would generally choose a busy day for launch. 

So, if you are a solopreneur it’s better to optimise for low traffic days to get ranked (if that’s your goal), while if you have a team of 3 or more (with enough bandwidth for 3-4 weeks), I’d suggest choosing a high traffic day. 

All said and done, outliers and exceptions exist and at the end of the day it’s on you to choose a strategy which works best for you.

We chose Tuesday (high traffic day) for the launch, and we had planned for a 4 member outreach team (including myself).

Launching with a hunter vs without 

It’s a very subjective choice and a lot depends on your strategy and bandwidth. When you are launching for the first time, I feel it is good to have your product get hunted by a hunter as you get to latch on to their followers within the PH community. Since they’ve hunted your product, their PH followers get notified about the launch - which becomes a channel to garner some support. Although, you can build a good community following for yourself and your product leading up to the launch which will help you get community support. As PH lists, 60% of the products who’ve won Product of the Day, have been self-hunted. Again it depends on the bandwidth you have. We chose to go with a hunter and were helped by Kevin (super grateful for his support 😀) for our launch.

If you choose to go with a hunter, I’d suggest starting your search early on (a month or so in advance) as connecting with the hunter and the process of setting up launch specifics will take time.

Understanding the community

We did a thorough study of products which had launched previously. It’s always great to get a know-how of someone’s experience before launching just to hear their experience (be sure to not overdo this). Everyone’s experience is different and it depends on a lot of factors which are subjective to their product stage. However, we found some things which take a good launch to a ‘great one’ from the community POV.

For a launch, the website matters just as much as the product. Launch assets and your website (landing page) play a crucial role in attracting the audience. Making the messaging nuanced and specific to the personas which hang out within the community, definitely makes you more likely to succeed. You can check out our website to get an idea. Our tagline on PH as well as on the website was quite simple and easy to follow. We made sure the site actually communicates what Clueso does – clear, focused, and easy to get in seconds. 

Our major attraction was the sequence of well-timed social media posts and launch assets that we shipped. Product Hunt groups and our network especially appreciated the relatable launch video we’d made. 

Launch assets

It’s crucial to show, not just tell, on Product Hunt.

The first thing people see on your launch page is your video and visuals – and that’s often where they decide whether to keep scrolling or support your launch. We focused on grabbing attention fast and clearly communicating what Clueso does and why it matters.

The first thing a PH member sees when they land on your page is the launch video and visuals. We made sure our assets not only captured attention but also clearly explained what Clueso does and how it can help. The winning products on PH get both parts right – strong visuals and a clear value prop.

We created our in-house launch video in under 24 hours, and it ended up being one of the highlights of the day. It really resonated with the audience. The goal was simple: show how Clueso fits naturally into a real, everyday workflow – through the lens of a user.

We kept it tight (just under 3 minutes) to make sure it held attention, and we focused on making it high quality despite the quick turnaround. We made sure it didn’t just look good, but also clearly communicated the value prop.

If you’re planning a launch, the video is key. It’s often the first impression. The more it reflects the user’s reality, the more likely it is to land. You can find all our launch assets here. 

Maker’s comment 

Maker comment is a way to tell your story to the community. The community appreciates originality and relevancy. It also helps them connect with you more over a virtual medium and builds credibility. Some simple questions to ask yourself that can help you craft a good first comment (what worked for us) – 

1. What made you build this product? 

2. Who is it for and what does it solve?

3. How does your product work?

4. Any special offers you'd like to extend to the community

Below is a snapshot of a part of the maker comment. Check out the full comment here.

We also made sure all three Clueso founders were active in the comments on our launch post, reinforcing the core problem we’re solving. When founders engage directly, it adds authenticity to the launch and creates space for more meaningful conversations. If you’re launching with a larger team, I’d strongly recommend involving leadership in the comments – it goes a long way in building trust and driving engagement.