Ask HN: A good launch plan for an indiehacker project
Hello
I am lifelong entrepreneur. But this is the first time I am going the indie hacker route.
The project is ready. I don't want to go the ppc route, since I don't have the budget. How do I launch this?
I have been told to us ProductHunt and other directories. Every other directory I have looked into seems scammy and PH seems intimidating.
How should I approach this launch? What are the best practices for PH in 2025? Are there any other non-scammy directories?
Don't over-focus on one specific event in time like "launch", but instead launch it silently, purchase targeted ads or similar, share in relevant subreddits/reddit submissions (only where it's relevant) and ask the people who try it out for feedback. Basically, you want a small increase in users over days rather than huge increase of temporary users in few hours. Main point is to gather feedback early and be able to adjust quickly, without loosing momentum.
The whole "Launch Day" spectacle is over-hyped and only gets you low-engagement activity for a short period of time, while what you need to be looking for are users who like your value proposition, but they're getting stuck/thrown off somewhere, and you need to figure out where, before opening the flood gates.
first time founder here, so take my advice lightly. from my research, the way to approach your launch is to find your ICP (ideal customer profile). after you know whom your target is, go to reddit and genuinely comment and solve their pain point, and lightly hint that you are currently working on a solution to solve that (sell your solution). this process takes way longer than ppc route, but it's effective. would love to see other's approach as well
And how do I find ICP?
I know the niche I am targeting. I have only found one subreddit for that crowd, and they had very draconian rules.