Favors.dev
The short answer
To launch on Indie Hackers, list your product on the site's product database, then write one post that tells the story of building or launching it, ends with a single question, and links to the product after the story. Stay in the replies for the first day, and come back a few weeks later with a milestone post.
Indie Hackers is a community of founders talking about their businesses. That changes what a launch means there. A directory gives you a listing, and a listing is the end of the transaction. Indie Hackers gives you a room full of people who reply to stories, and the product page is only the thing the story points at.
How is Indie Hackers different from a directory?
A launch directory is built around the listing. You submit, you get a page, and visitors browse the page. The launch directories guide covers that universe, and each of those submissions takes an afternoon.
Indie Hackers works the other way around. The site runs a products database that does the directory job, but its posts and comment threads carry the community. A founder who only fills in the database entry gets a page. A founder who also writes a good post gets replies, follows and the kind of conversation that sends people to the page.
So treat it as two separate pieces of work. The product page is the destination, and the launch post is the invitation.
How do you set up the product page?
Set up the product page before you write the post, so the link in your post leads somewhere that explains the product in full. The exact fields and options on the form change over time, so follow what the site asks for when you sign in. These are the things worth having ready, whatever the form looks like.
- One sentence on what it does. Write it for someone who has never heard of you. If you cannot say it in one sentence, the post will be hard to write too.
- A real link and a real screenshot. Use the live product and a current screenshot. A mockup that does not match the product loses trust quickly with a builder audience.
- The founder profile filled in. A photo, a short bio and a link to your other profiles. People decide whether to follow you in a few seconds.
- Only claims you can back up. If you list revenue or user numbers, they should be the real ones. This is an audience that checks.
If you are launching in several places in the same week, the Show HN guide covers the other community launch where honesty gets rewarded.
What goes in the launch post?
A launch post that works tells a story with a question inside it. It does not announce. The reason is simple: an announcement leaves the reader nothing to do, and a story invites them to compare it with their own.
Three opening lines for the same product show the gap. Read them as a stranger scrolling the feed.
Weak
“I just launched my new product, check it out!”
It announces and asks for nothing a reader can answer. There is no story to reply to.
Better
“I built a tool that cleans up invoice PDFs. Here is how the first 20 users found it.”
It names the product and promises a specific story, but the reader still has no reason to reply.
Best
“I spent six weeks building the wrong onboarding. Here is what I changed after watching five people try it.”
It leads with a mistake and a change. Readers who have made the same mistake reply with their own.
A fill-in launch-post skeleton
Copy this structure and replace each line with your own material. It stays under a few hundred words, which is about what a reader finishes on a feed.
| Part | What to write |
|---|---|
| Opening line | One sentence about the problem you hit or a mistake you made. No product name yet. |
| What you built | Two or three sentences on the product and who it is for, in plain words. |
| What happened | The real events: who tried it, what they did, what surprised you. Use your own numbers, and only ones you can stand behind. |
| What you got wrong | One honest admission. This is the line people reply to. |
| The question | One specific question you want answered, such as how others handled the same step. |
| The link | A single link to the product, placed after the story, with a label saying what it is. |
Two habits keep the post honest. Write it in first person, as the person who built the thing, and write down the mistake before you write the success. If you are also building in public, lift the story from what you have already shared, since your followers will recognize it.
What do you do on the first day?
Be present on the first day and reply to every comment. The post gets you into the conversation, but the replies are where people decide whether you are worth following. Four habits cover most of it.
01Reply to every comment
Answer in plain words and add something the post did not say. A reply that only says thanks wastes the thread.
02Answer the hard question first
If someone asks about a weakness, answer it directly before the friendly ones. It shows the other readers what kind of founder you are.
03Ask a follow-up
End a reply with a question where it fits, so the thread keeps going and the post stays active.
04Reply on other founders' posts too
Spend part of the day in other people's threads. Your name appearing helpfully in several places does more than one post alone.
The map of indie hacker communities lists the other rooms where the same replying habit pays off.
How do you follow up with a milestone post?
Come back a few weeks after launch with a post about what changed. A milestone can be small: the first ten users, the first paying customer, a feature you removed because nobody used it. The subject matters less than the specifics, because a milestone post tells readers who saw your launch that you are still here and still learning.
Keep it to the same format as the launch post: a story, one mistake, one question. Link back to the launch post so new readers can read the beginning. Founders who post a handful of honest updates over a few months build a following that a single launch day cannot give them. Other founders also keep their own lists of places to relaunch, such as this community-written list of places to launch and relaunch, and a milestone is a good reason to revisit it.
Where a co-op fits in
A launch post is easier to answer when readers already know you. That is the idea behind Favors.dev, a founder marketing co-op where members earn points in the points economy by doing verified favors for other founders, then spend those points on help for their own launches. Founders who have traded favors before show up in each other's threads. Put your date on the launch calendar and you have people who will read the post, and the founder profiles show who is active in your space.
Frequently asked questions
Is launching on Indie Hackers the same as launching on Product Hunt?
No. Product Hunt is a daily ranking of new products, while Indie Hackers is a community built around founders sharing what they are doing. A listing on the product database makes your product findable, but conversation in the community is what brings people to it.
Do I need a product page before I write a launch post?
It helps, because the post links to something that explains the product in full. You can write the page in an evening, so there is no reason to post a story that sends readers nowhere.
How often should I post about my product on Indie Hackers?
Post when you have something to say, such as a launch story, a milestone or a lesson. A steady stream of announcements with nothing new in them is the pattern readers learn to scroll past.
Can I ask people to upvote or comment on my post?
Ask real people who know your product to read it and reply if they have something to say. Asking friends to pile on with empty comments does not help, and readers can tell the difference.
What if nobody replies to my launch post?
Read the post as a stranger would. The usual cause is a post that announces instead of telling a story or asking a question. Reply to other founders for a week, then post again with a sharper opening and one clear question.