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2015

How we got 1000 beta signups in 2 weeks

We decided to focus on BetaList first, as it was the apt community for a private beta product like ours. (Product Hunt wouldn’t accept private betas, so we kept it for later.)

BetaList is a vibrant community where the audience is hungry to try new stuff everyday. Getting on BetaList however, is close to impossible if you go the organic way — like Product Hunt. We realized that their wait periods can go indefinitely long after a submission. So we decided to go the paid route and spent $199 on a one day approval process.

medium.com/startup-frontier

How to post on Hacker News

  • Submit at 8:00 AM EST. If you miss the window (after 8:20 AM), simply post the day or week after.
  • Preferably on Wednesday. Weekends front page are easier to land for example, but Wednesdays seem to be the peak of traffic for HN (more eyeballs).
  • Have a great title. That means being relevant and catchy, use capitalization and potentially use slang (a simple “sh*t” in the title can go a long way).
  • Be opinionated. Having a strong opinion about something will help create some level of discussion and buzz among readers, which helps getting upvotes.
  • Be relevant. HN is a community of hackers and entrepreneurs, so either post about entrepreneurship, technology or the related lifestyle and interests of such kind of people.