Back in January, we realized one of our start-up dreams and got to the number one spot on Product Hunt.
After calling Mum and Dad to tell them, finishing off the Prosecco, and shouting the news from the balcony, the next part of our Product Hunt journey began. Check out how getting to the top spot helped us below.
What is Product Hunt?
Simply put, Product Hunt is an online platform dedicated to showcasing new product releases – it’s where to find the ‘next big thing’ in tech. With a competitive ranking algorithm and a 24-hour release cycle, getting to the top spot on the day you launch your product is a serious win, and one that can bring a host of benefits to your product. It’s a lofty goal, but with some research, planning, and a smidgeon of luck, it is possible – someone has to be number one on any day, after all! You can read all about how we managed to claim the top spot on our release day right here.
What does getting to No.1 on Product Hunt mean?
With an algorithm based on engagement and upvotes, Product Hunt ranks all new releases in a 24-hour cycle on a vertical list. As you can imagine, the top spot belongs to the product that has the most buzz surrounding it, and the most engagement around its release.
Getting to the top spot grants your product unprecedented exposure from a community of engaged tech experts, legitimizes your release as one worth watching, and – perhaps most importantly – nabs you a shiny “#1 Product Of The Day” badge to display on your Product Hunt page (and possibly your fridge, too).
So how did all of this help us?
How did getting to No.1 on Product Hunt help Adadot?
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Community Feedback
The Product Hunt community is seriously engaged. Upvotes and shares are one thing, but it’s the comments section where the excitement happens, and where tech experts and superfans alike are exploring, celebrating and gently critiquing the best new releases.
The exposure of being at No.1 meant our comment section was full of people chiming in, from a quick and friendly ‘congrats’ to insightful questions on the way Adadot works. We were able to engage with the community and find out what was most important to them as newcomers to our tracking software; what did they like, what did they not quite get, and what did they want to see more of?
Most of the questions from the community centred around integrations; which software can be integrated right now, what are the plans for project management tools, when can we integrate with X, Y or Z? This helped us get our finger on the pulse of what features the community would most like to track, and allowed us to prioritize that in our roadmap. Other discussions included the advantages of using Adadot as a solo developer, the desire for a newsletter outlining our release schedule, and even (possibly half joking), incorporating physical fitness into our tracking data.
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Validation for Adadot
Being a new tech startup and telling everyone how great your product is can sometimes feel like shouting into the void: in the startup scene, no-one can hear you scream.
One of the most meaningful impacts of our Product Hunt success was that it validated everything we already knew about our product: people want it. We had developer after developer heading to the comments to express their delight at being able to track their work, with the overall sentiment being ‘finally’. Suddenly we were getting people telling us how useful the software is, how it fills a very clear need in the community, and how it could lead to sustainable success. Wait a second, those are our lines!
We launched Adadot as a fitness tracker for work, to help software developers measure their output across various software integrations alongside real wellbeing data. Our mission is to make success sustainable, one developer at a time, and we can now forge ahead on this mission knowing we have the community on our side.
In fact we even had requests for Adadot software from outside the developer community. Adadot For Artists, anyone?
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Approached by investors
The Product Hunt community is the place to find the best new tech releases, and investors know that. Getting your name in the number one spot and validating the need for your product is a perfect way to frame the potential of your software, which can lead to you getting noticed by people you want to get noticed by.
We found that our Product Hunt release tied in directly to finding success with our lead investors. Whilst previously we had cold emailed about our release with no result, after we had got to number one we were actually approached by investors with renewed interest, leading to an exciting new chapter for Adadot with a one million dollar investment.
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More users on Adadot
With all the buzz surrounding our release, we were thrilled to see a significant uptick in users engaging with the site. We saw more people exploring everything Adadot can do, and successfully integrating tools to track their work output, performance, and wellbeing. In turn, this gives us new insights and data into the way people use our software, so we can ensure we are making Adadot the most useful and user-friendly professional tracker out there.
Getting to number one on Product Hunt was an important milestone on our journey towards making developer success sustainable. It helped put our name out there, validated our product, and gave us the backing we need to move forward with some seriously exciting plans for the future. We hope you’ll be along for the ride – watch this space!