TBBL #2: How Katt made her nocode tools rank on top of Product Hunt 🚀
The Launch Secrets from the Founder of No Code Guru and IndieKids.
Hey launch pilots 🧑🚀,
This is Nithin and Karthik from LaunchPedia, Welcome to the #2 Issue of The Big Bang Launch Newsletter 🎉
This week we’re stealing the launch secrets from Katrien (Katt), a successful Indiehacker on Product Hunt. She’s launched two no-code products, with one of them ranked #3 on Product Hunt.
Check out her strategies and hacks behind it 🚀
Time Travel ⏪
Hi Katt, Before going into super serious stuff, could you tell us how you got into your online creator journey?
It all started 5 years ago when I started watching people making their own products on IndieHackers and listening to startup podcasts. But I didn’t take action at that time.
Mainly because I always had a lot of ideas, but never had the skills to build any.
But later one day I came to know about No Code and I joined 100Days of NoCode Bootcamp. And that’s where how I got the idea to create No Code Guru, a chatbot which recommends the right no-code tools for your project.
Your first product didn’t make it into the top 3 on Product Hunt - What are the reasons for that?
The first reason is the audience. When I launched No Code Guru, I just started on Twitter a few months back and didn’t have a big audience. Most of the upvotes I got are from the 100Days of No code & Softr communities only.
And the second reason might be the launch day. I launched on Tuesday because I wanted a lot of visibility for my product while still not facing too much competition from big companies ( that usually launch on Wednesday )
However, if I had chosen to launch on the least competitive days (Saturday & Sunday) I could’ve ranked on Top 3.
Out of the 2 products you’ve launched on PH, IndieKids was more successful - What did you do different this time?
1. I had a co-founder for Indie Kids. Since we were a team of two, we had a bigger network.
2. I had been active on Twitter and other communities for a long time. So we’ve got more people to support.
3. This time we made a list of people on Twitter who’re having kids (They’re our target audience) and we asked them for support on the launch day.
4. I posted the launch updates actively on Twitter to the launch tweet thread & whenever I’ve reached out to people through DM’s I've asked them to like the tweet. So, the launch tweet got more reach!
5. We got a good hunter for this launch. He gave a nice comment and also promoted our launch on Twitter.
6. And I replied to every comment on Product Hunt. If you have more comments, the chances of ranking on Top will be better. So, comments are important.
At what stage of building, will you launch your product on Product Hunt? what is your expectation from the launch?
I launched No code guru on product Hunt right when I had an MVP. I had too many ideas for No code Guru, but didn’t know what people are looking for. And Product Hunt really helped to validate my idea.
So if you want to get feedback on your idea and find out how to improve your product, build an MVP and launch it on Product Hunt.
Coming to expectations, my expectations were not high for No Code Guru as it was my first project. I was just looking for some upvotes and nice feedback. But for IndieKids, our goal was to get leads, so that we can reach out to them when we launch our next version.
How long do you plan for the launch? And how do you plan?
It’s good if you plan for the launch before 2 weeks.
The first thing in the plan would be finding a hunter. It takes some time. Then I paid attention to my product page, I started preparing copy, visuals and first comment. Then I created a to-do list on the launch day. And I made a list of people & communities that I can ask for support when I launch.
However, for indie kids, we planned the launch in just a few days. (laughs)
D-Day 🚀
What’s your action plan for Launch Day?
First of all, I will Block the entire day. The first 2-3 hours are important, you really have to go 200% at that time. So, I start with the big impact tasks, like sharing in communities (that I’m active in), sending one-on-one messages, and sharing the launch with the Email list. These will result in more upvotes.
And then I reply to every comment on Product Hunt and share updates on Twitter. In the afternoon, I will send direct messages to my connections and people that didn’t vote yet. Launch days are very chaotic days (Phew)
What are the different platforms you promote your launch?
Twitter and
Slack Communities
Houston we’ve a problem ⚠️
Have you faced any challenges while launching your products on Product Hunt?
Yeah, Mainly with No code guru. Product Hunt doesn’t give priority to info products, so when we launched No code guru on product hunt it failed to rank on the home page initially.
However, after getting a bunch of upvotes and comments, it started appearing. It was a nerve-racking experience.
So if you’re launching any info product or any newsletter on ProductHunt, you need to get more support( upvotes/comments) than other types of products, to appear on the PH homepage.
What are the three pieces of advice would you give to beginners who are launching for the first time?
Reply to every comment on Product Hunt. It will help in ranking high on the list.
DM people who are relevant to the product about your launch. I won’t suggest sending messages to random people.
Try to be active in communities because those people will really support you and
Post frequent updates during the launch on Twitter. As twitter likes engagement, your tweets will be shown to newer audiences.
Thanks a lot Katt, for sharing your Product Hunt strategies and secrets with our launch pilots. It will help them a lot in making their launch, a big bang.
Before leaving we got one last question for you!
Your first project No Code Guru got acquired on Microacquire recently. Can you share a little bit about your acquisition journey?
That’s a cool story. One day I had this new idea to create an info product about acquisitions. So I tried putting No Code Guru on Microacquire to learn more about acquisition platforms and how they work. I created the listing without really putting a lot of thought into it.
But then a few months later, Someone on Twitter said they were really interested in buying it and then yeah, we made a deal. And It's a really nice feeling because it shows that, Someone sees value in what you made.’
That’s it from our side guys. Let’s meet next week with another Product Hunt success story.
And don’t forget to check out Katt’s new product, No Code Exits, where she interviews makers on how they build, grow and sell their products made with No-Code.