Don't use the term "hunt" in the name, to me it just screams "dupe" instead of something unique. Go the route of improving what PH has and adding things that are missing.
Some ideas:
- Users should be able to update their post to some extent.
- There's no "product page" in your app, build something where I can see people commenting, reacting, and maybe even sharing their own screenshots of it because that's something PH does pretty well but can be improved.
- "LAUNCHES WORTH YOUR SCROLL" sounds kinda cringe, change to something like "Find the next best thing" or make it random on load and have a few less in your face versions of it. Reddit has "homepage of the internet" which seems appropriate. You can have "have you launched yet?", "find the next best thing", "what's trending today"...etc
I have more ideas, feel free to message me or drop a way to contact you if you'd like more feedback :)
aardvark179 13 hours ago [-]
Maybe not, “next best thing,” I don’t know about American English but in British English next best means second best.
tuckerman 11 hours ago [-]
At least in American English “next to best” would mean second whereas “next best thing” means something likely to be the best thing in the near future and it’s a very common idiom.
yyuugg 1 hours ago [-]
In American English "next best thing" means second best. It is used to suggest an alternative when you can't get what you want. "Don't have Coke, maybe get a Pepsi, it's the next best thing."
"Next big thing" means upcoming good thing.
phone_book 11 hours ago [-]
i am american and think "next best thing" means second best. maybe "next big thing" would be better but is a bit generic
stoneman24 2 hours ago [-]
How about “next favourite thing”
silisili 10 hours ago [-]
To jump in on the confusion, I'm American and have seen it used both ways, completely dependent on context. When I read the original comment I understood it as 'next thing that we all think is best' rather than 'second best.'
But after reading the comments and thinking on it, I realize it's probably used more often in the context of 'second best.'
Gormo 8 hours ago [-]
Another American here -- never heard "next best" meaning anything other than second-best to what you're currently looking at.
"Next big thing" is commonly used and unambiguously means what's intended here.
ImPostingOnHN 10 hours ago [-]
I think you might be referring to the common american english idiom "next big thing", as "next best thing" means 2nd best in american english as well.
Note that "next bigGEST thing" also means the 2nd biggest thing.
mathgeek 10 hours ago [-]
This is the common usage in my experience (US).
corobo 11 hours ago [-]
Do you not have sentence structures along the line of "I wanted the premium model but it was out of my budget so I went for the next best thing"?
I get we're trying to go for "next [best thing]" but yeah I (also UK) read it as "[next best] thing" and can't think of any examples where I'd read it as the former
bayouborne 8 hours ago [-]
I immediately got it. Understanding that the typical reader in this space is generally atypical “find the next best thing” would likely mean "look here to find the thing that's better than the current best." I guess it largely depends on who your audience is.
ribeyes 11 hours ago [-]
i guess it's somewhat ambiguous here, but "next-best" would be second-best, while "next best" means "future best"
11 hours ago [-]
sam1r 5 hours ago [-]
>>> Don't use the term "hunt" in the name, to me it just screams "dupe" instead of something unique. Go the route of improving what PH has and adding things that are missing.
Here's additionally a solution versus just criticism^^:
How about PoshProduct. ProductPower.
The word product screams attention to both product hunt and ProductPower users. Just make the emoji bolt your logo. Product Power! Be the first to know.
Good luck! This is awesome.
heyarviind2 13 hours ago [-]
Hey thank you so much for the feedback. I want to hear more from you.
Can we connect on Twitter/x: @heyarviind?
malfist 9 hours ago [-]
It really is an unfortunate name. How do you pronounce it, hunt lie? Hunt Lee? I'm not sure, but my first impression was it was a portmanteau of hunt and lie, which wouldn't be something I'd want my startup to be associated with
Get rid of it and make a link called "about" then do the boring thing and explain what is going on, why, how much, when, who? wtf?
anonzzzies 2 hours ago [-]
I would like a startups-which-are-not-shallow-llm-wrappers.com. Basically don't allow any product that you go to and shows you a chatbox 'type to create X'. It will be eaten tomorrow by openai, anthropic etc, so there is no product there; yet all is infested with these on sites like PH.
Brajeshwar 7 hours ago [-]
When one builds a Product Hunt (PH) alternative, one needs to remember that PH succeeded because of Ryan Hoover. Just as with any new Startup App/Website of that time, it was not fancy, interesting or likable at all. Ryan’s shouts, marketing, and his everything everywhere all at once presence made PH. When I think of PH, I remember his avatar (profile picture); that 'P' reminds me more of Pinterest than PH.
PH is a successful directory-listing-ish website, there is always a limit to its success. Ryan, being a super smart founder, realizes that and moves out at the perfect time at its super-high hype cycle.
All PH-esque clones can focus on specific niches and become good lifestyle businesses. Like other business ideas, shred apart Craigslist and build PH of them.
ndjdjddjsjj 7 hours ago [-]
Discovery plays are usually a tarpit idea though. Supply of founders high. Supply of customers low.
It is the equivalent of queuing up for an X-factor (or whatever they call it these days) audition, aiming to be the next One Direction. Someone will win of course which makes it seem possible.
Find the short queues! If someone says "why the fuck you interested in that" it might be a good sign.
Brajeshwar 7 hours ago [-]
In the case of my suggestion, it is not to win, more of a play to be present and seen. Monetize via endorsement (paid listings) or ads. If you have like 10s of them, less than 10% have to attract just above average to be self-sustaining.
nadermx 7 hours ago [-]
If I remember correctly it started as an email list too, like Craig's list, before it needed a site.
Brajeshwar 7 hours ago [-]
Holy D*n. I think you are correct, and I was one of the early subscribers subscribed via Twitter Login (only option or something like that).
barlog 2 hours ago [-]
RH and chrismessina.me yay.
IgorPartola 10 hours ago [-]
What problem does PH solve/what problem would this solve?
Honestly PH always felt to me like a time waster. “Oh look at this idea. Neat. Next.”
Now, a website where I can type in the problem I am having and it suggests solutions (with a mix of self hosted vs commercial products depending on my settings) would be super useful. For example: “I want to organize a library full of old photos that don’t have metadata” or “I want a cheap online backup solution with support for Linux servers” or “I want to automate sending personalized-feeling birthday cards to people I know professionally”.
asdf6969 6 hours ago [-]
It’s a way for developers to sell products to each other in a big circle without actually producing anything
breadwinner 8 hours ago [-]
PH is a website that program managers from big companies such as Microsoft and Google go to get ideas for new features.
I recommend against post anything to PH unless you have patents, or a big marketing budget, if not your idea will just be copied by big companies before you can get the word out about your product.
gkoberger 8 hours ago [-]
Do you have any examples of this happening? How many products on Product Hunt do you think are patent-able?
My startup was posted on PH, and many years later we're quite successful. We had $0 budget and it was just me at the time, and it worked out wonderfully.
anonzzzies 3 hours ago [-]
It can get you started, it did for many. It seems kind of crappy these days but it still works as a channel to get your product out.
agnishom 8 hours ago [-]
"Oh look at this idea. Neat. Next."
That's exactly what HackerRank feels like. Same with "normal" social media like Reddit or Twitter
hackernewds 6 hours ago [-]
then what keeps you here I'm curious
agnishom 2 hours ago [-]
you misunderstand. People actually _like_ this feeling.
blakeburch 12 hours ago [-]
Glad to see someone working on an alternative!
Personal note - I used to be a pretty frequent user of ProductHunt. Some folks I worked with jokingly called me the SaaS King. If you had a problem, I knew of 3 tools to potentially solve it.
The biggest reason why I stopped using ProductHunt was because people opted to submit and upvote low quality "list of X" aggregation services and minor updates, not real products. Hopefully you've thought about how to refine the curation.
Also, agreed with the feedback from muhammadusman about having a product page. Right now, it's just a list of links with synopsis - not enough to intrigue me to explore further.
klntsky 11 hours ago [-]
Product hunt clones should all launch on each other
crowcroft 11 hours ago [-]
We need to go meta and build a Product Hunt clone focussed on being the best Product Hunt clone directory.
Not gonna lie. It kinda feels like the site was generated by AI with minimal modifications. Hence, it made me wonder how long it will last.
triyambakam 12 hours ago [-]
How is the name supposed to be pronounced? It looks like the two English words hunt and lie which doesn't sound very nice.
codazoda 10 hours ago [-]
I also read it as “hunt lie” instead of “hunt lee” FWIW.
makk 8 hours ago [-]
Reminds me of expertsexchange.com before they put the hyphen in it (now experts-exchange.com)
Brajeshwar 7 hours ago [-]
I think he meant Huntly, but unfortunately, we Indians have our own idiosyncratic way with English. The founder/builder is Indian (I'm Indian, and I know).
OJFord 9 hours ago [-]
Fwiw it parsed to me as 'Hun tile', certainly no better.
If it's meant to be hunt-lee per sibling comment then 'huntly' (with the domain hunt.ly) is by far the established (still-annoying) way to do that.
It really isn't though. Any native English speaker is going to see Hunt Lie.
cabinguy 9 hours ago [-]
Confirmed. I immediately read “hunt lie.”
emmanueloga_ 9 hours ago [-]
In the context of discovering brand-new companies, it does come across as somewhat ironic.
Maybe consider the "Kodak recipe" for an alternative? [1]: "Keep it short, easy to pronounce, and avoid similarities to existing names or associations." (short is harder in 2024 though!)
I'm on the fence on whether the name should have meaning. There are plenty of successful companies on either side.
Imo better to start with a generic name in the early days at least. Best case your generic name becomes a brand name, ie airbnb.
hackernewds 6 hours ago [-]
why not spell it Huntly? like most annoying apps do
davidedicillo 3 hours ago [-]
I tried to add a product (https://platformchecker.com), and initially, the process wasn't clear. The icon isn't marked as mandatory (it is) and the discount code is (it is not).
stevekemp 14 hours ago [-]
ProductHunt has been gamed to the extent that it's no longer in any way real - it's just who can spam the most.
What will stop your site from the same fate?
heyarviind2 14 hours ago [-]
I want to take an approach of Instagram algorithm, no matter what votes you have you will see all the products once every visit.
crowcroft 13 hours ago [-]
Why do you think that's a good idea?
thehadiahmadi 12 hours ago [-]
Hi, I liked the idea.
There are some issues, maybe these are in your todo list, but I want to tell you based on my usage.
1. there is no difference before and after login. (maybe login is unsuccessful)
2. I cannot edit/delete my submitted project.
3. No search for projects.
4. No Dark mode :)
nhatcher 11 hours ago [-]
There was a slightly similar product some days ago:
I liked the submission flow, it was nice and simple. The only issue is that at the end of the process I got a page that looked like it was broken, so had to manually navigate to the main page.
heyarviind2 12 hours ago [-]
sorry about that, i am fixing it
olegp 12 hours ago [-]
No problem, it's better to launch early.
r0fl 7 hours ago [-]
Switching between newest and featured brings me to the top of the late each time
That’s pretty annoying
Should just stay where the surfer is
supertofu 12 hours ago [-]
When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. Re: the black visit buttons. Save black for the top 3 featured, and make the rest a milder color. It's cognitively fatiguing to have a giant list of primary buttons.
FiddlerClamp 8 hours ago [-]
This could use an RSS feed (Blogtrottr reported there isn't one). Looking forward to seeing how it develops!
srbhr 13 hours ago [-]
I've added a product (SWIRL) it shows 0% off.
:) How can I change that?
heyarviind2 12 hours ago [-]
have you enabled the discount checkbox?
Anyway let me know the coupon code and percentage off, i can add it manually ;)
dinkblam 12 hours ago [-]
same here, didn't specify a discount either
dt3ft 11 hours ago [-]
Congrats!
I tried submitting https://fdeploy.com but the product icon wouldn’t upload. Which file formats are supported?
xwowsersx 11 hours ago [-]
Looks promising! May I offer some gentle feedback on your blurb above the fold?
> fDeploy is a self-hosted deployment software for Windows being currently built in Stockholm, Sweden by developers with over 10 years of experience in the industry, focusing only on the most essential and most valuable features.
I'd recommend focusing on what the most valuable features are and making those the highlight. Leading with who is building it and where doesn't add much unless your team is especially well-known or noteworthy. Also, citing "10 years of experience" as social proof might not resonate strongly—it's not a differentiator for most audiences (10 years is not that long). Instead, consider showcasing the unique aspects of the product that would immediately grab attention.
dt3ft 11 hours ago [-]
I will set some time aside to rewrite that. Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated!
permanent 12 hours ago [-]
Added an icon, and still it says:
> Product icon is required
bochoh 12 hours ago [-]
Having the same issue here! Cheers on launching
joshdavham 10 hours ago [-]
Looks interesting!
Could I get a short pitch on what makes your alternative better/different?
TripleChecker 11 hours ago [-]
Tried to add a product but nothing happens when I submit.
Domain isn't the easiest to remember IMO.
12 hours ago [-]
akutlay 14 hours ago [-]
I can't add a product, it asks me to add an icon despite the fact that I already uploaded one.
heyarviind2 14 hours ago [-]
you can click on next even after it gives an error
amiantos 12 hours ago [-]
Why?
slurpyb 8 hours ago [-]
Is this a pisstake??
encoderer 13 hours ago [-]
Terrible name.
Hunt doesn’t mean anything. Huntly is bad. Huntlie is terrible. Forget about product hunt. Invent a new brand.
Let people submit for free but you choose when they get published. If they want to pick a date charge for that.
gre 12 hours ago [-]
An open source applicant tracking system that grows with your company
50% Off, use coupon HUNTILE
I first read it as "Huntile" which is like Product Hunt + quartile. Then I saw it's Huntlie, "HUNT LIE" which has negative connotations. And then I click the site and see the coupon code is "HUNTILE". christ
denysvitali 13 hours ago [-]
0% off, use coupon "undefined"
:)
heyarviind2 13 hours ago [-]
fixed it, :P
rootsudo 8 hours ago [-]
I don't want to be a debbie downer, but I'm seeing this sort of post often now on HN. If not bimonthly.
There are so many product hunt alternatives that it's hard to keep track. There are literally services to go around and list you on all of the alternatives. I believe it's about 60+.
The problem with ProductHunt is that it's basically the glory days are behind it. If you want to have a successful ProductHunt launch the key is simple, wait until you're established and then send an email to all your customers to upvote you.
People focus so much on having a good ProductHunt launch like it'll make a difference. They go around begging everyone they know and spamming everyone they don't know asking for an upvote. They'll spend weeks focusing on this product hunt launch and overall get less traffic than they would from posting on here with Show HN and less traffic than they would get from posting on the right subreddits.
Product Hunt and similar launch sites are just focusing don't he false hope that new founders have that the launch matters.
inquisitor27552 8 hours ago [-]
hunt lies
rebrand!
rrr_oh_man 11 hours ago [-]
Login doesn’t work…
How to correct a post?
:-)
bootstrpppin 13 hours ago [-]
Are you going to launch it on PH?
Joking aside, I really think you need a unique angle and a solid distribution strategy: there are 1,000 PH clones but they don't stick because they're the same as PH, just with less users/traction/eyeballs.
12 hours ago [-]
inerte 12 hours ago [-]
Unrelated, but I am thinking about how do I get alpha users for an app I am building, and decided to check Product Hunt if they offer any sort of feature to help with that, and I ended up on this page https://www.producthunt.com/questions
Looks like someone is trying to pull a Forbes...
And I guess related to you, please don't do that :)
etewiah 24 minutes ago [-]
Crikey, that looks horrible...
Any ideas what that is about? Sorry I don't understand the Forbes reference.
12 hours ago [-]
Rendered at 08:31:15 GMT+0000 (UTC) with Wasmer Edge.
Some ideas: - Users should be able to update their post to some extent.
- There's no "product page" in your app, build something where I can see people commenting, reacting, and maybe even sharing their own screenshots of it because that's something PH does pretty well but can be improved.
- "LAUNCHES WORTH YOUR SCROLL" sounds kinda cringe, change to something like "Find the next best thing" or make it random on load and have a few less in your face versions of it. Reddit has "homepage of the internet" which seems appropriate. You can have "have you launched yet?", "find the next best thing", "what's trending today"...etc
I have more ideas, feel free to message me or drop a way to contact you if you'd like more feedback :)
"Next big thing" means upcoming good thing.
But after reading the comments and thinking on it, I realize it's probably used more often in the context of 'second best.'
"Next big thing" is commonly used and unambiguously means what's intended here.
Note that "next bigGEST thing" also means the 2nd biggest thing.
I get we're trying to go for "next [best thing]" but yeah I (also UK) read it as "[next best] thing" and can't think of any examples where I'd read it as the former
Here's additionally a solution versus just criticism^^:
How about PoshProduct. ProductPower.
The word product screams attention to both product hunt and ProductPower users. Just make the emoji bolt your logo. Product Power! Be the first to know.
Good luck! This is awesome.
Can we connect on Twitter/x: @heyarviind?
PH is a successful directory-listing-ish website, there is always a limit to its success. Ryan, being a super smart founder, realizes that and moves out at the perfect time at its super-high hype cycle.
All PH-esque clones can focus on specific niches and become good lifestyle businesses. Like other business ideas, shred apart Craigslist and build PH of them.
It is the equivalent of queuing up for an X-factor (or whatever they call it these days) audition, aiming to be the next One Direction. Someone will win of course which makes it seem possible.
Find the short queues! If someone says "why the fuck you interested in that" it might be a good sign.
Honestly PH always felt to me like a time waster. “Oh look at this idea. Neat. Next.”
Now, a website where I can type in the problem I am having and it suggests solutions (with a mix of self hosted vs commercial products depending on my settings) would be super useful. For example: “I want to organize a library full of old photos that don’t have metadata” or “I want a cheap online backup solution with support for Linux servers” or “I want to automate sending personalized-feeling birthday cards to people I know professionally”.
I recommend against post anything to PH unless you have patents, or a big marketing budget, if not your idea will just be copied by big companies before you can get the word out about your product.
My startup was posted on PH, and many years later we're quite successful. We had $0 budget and it was just me at the time, and it worked out wonderfully.
That's exactly what HackerRank feels like. Same with "normal" social media like Reddit or Twitter
Personal note - I used to be a pretty frequent user of ProductHunt. Some folks I worked with jokingly called me the SaaS King. If you had a problem, I knew of 3 tools to potentially solve it.
The biggest reason why I stopped using ProductHunt was because people opted to submit and upvote low quality "list of X" aggregation services and minor updates, not real products. Hopefully you've thought about how to refine the curation.
Also, agreed with the feedback from muhammadusman about having a product page. Right now, it's just a list of links with synopsis - not enough to intrigue me to explore further.
https://www.producthunt.com/products/product-hunt/alternativ...
If it's meant to be hunt-lee per sibling comment then 'huntly' (with the domain hunt.ly) is by far the established (still-annoying) way to do that.
https://www.names-hub.com/name/huntlie
Maybe consider the "Kodak recipe" for an alternative? [1]: "Keep it short, easy to pronounce, and avoid similarities to existing names or associations." (short is harder in 2024 though!)
I'm on the fence on whether the name should have meaning. There are plenty of successful companies on either side.
--
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak#Name
What will stop your site from the same fate?
1. there is no difference before and after login. (maybe login is unsuccessful) 2. I cannot edit/delete my submitted project. 3. No search for projects. 4. No Dark mode :)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41860810
I liked the submission flow, it was nice and simple. The only issue is that at the end of the process I got a page that looked like it was broken, so had to manually navigate to the main page.
That’s pretty annoying
Should just stay where the surfer is
Anyway let me know the coupon code and percentage off, i can add it manually ;)
I tried submitting https://fdeploy.com but the product icon wouldn’t upload. Which file formats are supported?
> fDeploy is a self-hosted deployment software for Windows being currently built in Stockholm, Sweden by developers with over 10 years of experience in the industry, focusing only on the most essential and most valuable features.
I'd recommend focusing on what the most valuable features are and making those the highlight. Leading with who is building it and where doesn't add much unless your team is especially well-known or noteworthy. Also, citing "10 years of experience" as social proof might not resonate strongly—it's not a differentiator for most audiences (10 years is not that long). Instead, consider showcasing the unique aspects of the product that would immediately grab attention.
> Product icon is required
Could I get a short pitch on what makes your alternative better/different?
Domain isn't the easiest to remember IMO.
Hunt doesn’t mean anything. Huntly is bad. Huntlie is terrible. Forget about product hunt. Invent a new brand.
Let people submit for free but you choose when they get published. If they want to pick a date charge for that.
:)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41714345
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41867294
The problem with ProductHunt is that it's basically the glory days are behind it. If you want to have a successful ProductHunt launch the key is simple, wait until you're established and then send an email to all your customers to upvote you.
People focus so much on having a good ProductHunt launch like it'll make a difference. They go around begging everyone they know and spamming everyone they don't know asking for an upvote. They'll spend weeks focusing on this product hunt launch and overall get less traffic than they would from posting on here with Show HN and less traffic than they would get from posting on the right subreddits.
Product Hunt and similar launch sites are just focusing don't he false hope that new founders have that the launch matters.
How to correct a post?
:-)
Joking aside, I really think you need a unique angle and a solid distribution strategy: there are 1,000 PH clones but they don't stick because they're the same as PH, just with less users/traction/eyeballs.
Looks like someone is trying to pull a Forbes...
And I guess related to you, please don't do that :)
Any ideas what that is about? Sorry I don't understand the Forbes reference.