Product Hunt launch checklist

Assets & listing

1–2 weeks before

Square icon that reads at 240×240It is shown small and on both light and dark backgrounds. Rounded corners help it sit apart from the page.Favicon generator →
Tagline under 60 charactersSay what it does, not how it feels. No buzzwords.Live character counter →
Short description under 260 charactersWhat it does and who it is for.Live character counter →
4–8 screenshots at 1270×760Real UI and real workflows beat illustrations. A 60–90 second walkthrough helps more than an eighth screenshot.Resize to 1270×760 →
First maker comment draftedWho you are, the problem that started it, what it does today, what is next, and an honest invitation for feedback.
A launch-day offerExtended trial, credits or a lifetime discount — something specific to this community.

1 week before

A social card that renders everywhereYour link will be pasted into X, Slack and iMessage all day. A missing og:image turns it into a plain text row.OG image generator →
Meta tags completeMeta tag generator →
Verify the card actually rendersGenerating tags and having platforms accept them are different things. Check before launch day, not during.Social preview checker →
One call to actionStraight into sign-up or a sandbox. Every extra step costs conversions on a day when attention is measured in seconds.
Greet Product Hunt visitorsDetect ?ref=producthunt and acknowledge them, with the offer already applied.
Analytics on the funnelPageviews, sign-ups, time-to-first-value, payments. You cannot fix on the day what you cannot see.

Few days before

SPF, DKIM and DMARC passGmail and Yahoo now require DMARC for bulk senders. If welcome emails land in spam, the sign-ups you worked for go nowhere.Email deliverability checker →
Checkout tested in productionCoupon validation, upgrades and invoices — with real money, not test keys.
Rate limits and pools sized for a burstCheck the limits that apply to your own server-side rendering too, not only to visitors.
Error tracking and uptime alerts liveYou want to hear about a 500 from your monitor, not from a commenter.

2–4 weeks before, then launch day

“Coming soon” page publishedTwo to four weeks ahead, so subscribers get notified the moment you go live.
Announcement segments ready to sendBeta testers, waitlist, personal network — each with copy already written.
Every channel link taggedOtherwise all of launch day arrives as one undifferentiated lump of “direct” traffic.UTM link builder →
Ask for feedback, never for upvotesSoliciting votes is penalised. Asking people to try it and comment is not.
Post at 12:01am PTIt buys the full 24-hour leaderboard window.
Calendar cleared for the dayReply to every comment within about 15 minutes. Engagement is part of the ranking, and it is the part you control.