# Launch on Product Hunt > A six-week runway, a 12:01 am Pacific start, a maker comment that opens with the problem, and 200 supporters queued for the first hour — the parts that decide the day. - **Section:** Launch & marketing · **Region:** Global · **Difficulty:** medium - **Time:** 6 weeks of preparation · 24-hour launch day · 1 week of follow-up - **Cost:** $0 (paid promotion is optional and rarely worth it) - **You end up with:** A live Product Hunt listing with real comments, a traffic spike you captured, and a badge you can use for a year - **Last reviewed:** 2026-09-05 · **Canonical:** https://for.do/p/product-hunt-launch/ ## Before you start - A product people can actually use today — a landing page with a waitlist is not a launch - A Product Hunt account at least a few weeks old that has commented and upvoted normally - A working analytics setup with a UTM plan, so the day is measurable A Product Hunt launch is a 24-hour event with a six-week runway. The ranking on the day is driven by real comments and the voting history of the people who show up, so the work that decides the outcome is done before the page exists: a list of people who will genuinely turn up in the first hour. ## 1. Six weeks out: decide what the day is for - [ ] Write the single goal: sign-ups, paying customers, feedback, or a badge for the landing page. It changes the tagline and the offer. - [ ] Build the launch list: everyone who has ever shown interest — waitlist, beta users, newsletter, past customers. Aim for 200+ people who will act in the first hour. - [ ] Set up analytics with a UTM scheme (utm_source=producthunt) and a goal for the sign-up event. ## 2. Four weeks out: prepare the assets - [ ] Tagline of at most 60 characters that says what it does for whom, no adjectives. - [ ] Gallery: first image is the product in use with the benefit as a headline; 5–8 images; a 30–60 second demo video if you have one. - [ ] Maker comment draft: open with the problem and the moment you decided to fix it, three specifics (numbers, users, time saved), and one exclusive offer for Product Hunt visitors. - [ ] Pre-write answers to the 10 questions you always get. ## 3. Two weeks out: schedule and warm up - [ ] Create the launch page in draft and schedule it for 12:01 am Pacific on your chosen day (Tue–Thu for traffic). - [ ] Set up a "Coming soon" page so early supporters can subscribe to be notified at launch. - [ ] Email the launch list with the date and a one-line ask: "be there in the first hour and leave an honest comment". - [ ] Recruit five to ten people who will ask real questions in the comments (questions get replies, replies get ranking). ## 4. Launch day, hour zero - [ ] Post the maker comment the minute the page goes live; pin it. - [ ] Send the launch email and a post to each social channel, with the direct link, at 12:05 am Pacific. - [ ] Reply to every comment within minutes for the first four hours; then hourly for the rest of the day. ## 5. Launch day, the long middle - [ ] Post updates on the page as milestones land (first 100 upvotes, a great question, a feature shipped that morning). - [ ] Share screenshots of the ranking on social channels with the link — a rising rank is a reason to visit. - [ ] Watch analytics for the sign-up event; fix broken flows immediately, the traffic will not come back. ## 6. The week after - [ ] Thank every commenter individually; reply to the late ones. - [ ] Add the Product Hunt badge to the site; screenshot the final rank for the press kit. - [ ] Turn the best comments into testimonials and the objections into a changelog. ## Where people get this wrong - Launching at 9 am your time. The Product Hunt day starts at 12:01 am Pacific; a mid-day launch competes against products with twelve hours of votes. - Buying upvotes or asking for 'upvote please' in bulk. The ranking weighs comment quality and voter history; a spike of new accounts flags the listing and can get it removed. - Spending the maker comment on a feature list. The first comment is the most-read text on the page; open with the problem and the moment you decided to solve it. - Going quiet after noon. Ranks move all day; makers who reply to every comment within minutes outperform makers who post and leave. ## Questions **Do I still need a hunter?** No. Since 2024 the hunter's reach counts far less than community engagement; self-hunting is normal. A known hunter still adds a little credibility, nothing more. **Which day is best?** Tuesday to Thursday for the most traffic; weekends and Mondays for a better chance at #1 with less traffic. Pick by what you want from the day. **What does a good day look like?** For a small product, a few hundred upvotes, 50–100 real comments, 1,000–5,000 visits and a handful of paying customers. #1 of the day is a bonus, not the goal. ## Tools used - [Product Hunt](https://find.do/t/product-hunt/) — The launch board where a product gets a day of attention and a badge. - [LaunchList](https://find.do/t/launchlist/) — Waitlist pages with referral mechanics for pre-launch. - [Plausible Analytics](https://find.do/t/plausible/) — Lightweight, cookie-free web analytics. - [Google Analytics 4](https://find.do/t/google-analytics-4/) (official) — Google's free analytics with event-based goals and UTM attribution. - [Google Campaign URL Builder](https://find.do/t/utm-builder/) (official) — Builds UTM-tagged links so each channel is measurable. ## Sources - [LaunchList — How to launch on Product Hunt (2026)](https://getlaunchlist.com/blog/how-to-launch-on-product-hunt-2026) - [FORKOFF — Product Hunt launch playbook 2026 (maker comment, timing, algorithm)](https://forkoff.xyz/blog/saas-gtm/product-hunt-launch-playbook-maker-comment-timing-2026) - [Product Hunt — Launch guide (official)](https://www.producthunt.com/launch)