Where to post your startup: pick the place by what you need

01. Start with what you need, not with a list of 200 sites

Most lists of places to post a startup are sorted by how big the site is. That is the wrong sort. A launch site can send you a few hundred curious visitors in a day and still give you zero useful conversations if what you actually needed was a technical co-founder.

So write one sentence before you post anywhere: right now I need users who will try it, honest feedback on one thing, a specific person for the team, or a first conversation with an investor. Each of those has different venues, a different post and a different way to measure success.

Then pick three places for that one goal. Three is enough to learn something, small enough that you can reply to every comment the same day, and it keeps you away from the copy-paste spraying that most communities treat as spam.

• Users: a product people can try today, posted where trying things is the point.
• Feedback: one clear question, posted where people in your field already talk.
• People: a specific role with what you offer, posted where people say what they help with.
• Investors: a short, honest update to people who already know you, plus a warm route to new ones.

02. When you need users: launch sites and Show HN

Show HN on Hacker News is for things people can actually try. Its guidelines say blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists and other reading material are off topic, that the project should be something you made yourself and that you should be around to answer questions. The title starts with Show HN, and the guidelines ask you to make it easy to try without signups and not to ask friends to upvote or comment.

Product Hunt is free to launch on. Its launch page says to use a personal account, since company accounts are not allowed, that makers can post their own product without a hunter, and that you should not ask people directly to upvote. Ask them to visit and comment instead. It suggests launching at 12:01 am Pacific time, and relaunching only after a significant iteration.

Both reward the same thing: a working product, a plain description of what it does and who it is for, and a founder who answers every comment. If you only have a landing page, you are not ready for Show HN yet, and that is useful information too.

Sources: Show HN guidelines (Hacker News) ↗ Launch on Product Hunt ↗

03. When you need feedback: communities you already take part in

Reddit's own spam policy says promotional content is not automatically spam, but mass-posting the same thing for exposure, sending lots of unsolicited messages and posting off-topic links are. Its advice is to post authentic content in communities where you have a personal interest, check each community's rules and ask the moderators when you are unsure. Reddit's moderator help adds that some communities ban promotion entirely, while others use a 10% rule: only about one in ten of your posts and comments there should promote your own thing.

In practice that means you join a subreddit, forum or Slack group weeks before you need it, answer other people's questions, and then ask for feedback on one specific thing. A post that says I would love your thoughts on my startup gets silence. A post that says here are two onboarding screens, which one tells you faster what the product does gets answers.

If you want the full method for asking, how to ask for useful startup feedback walks through it, and how to choose a startup community helps you decide which groups are worth weeks of showing up.

Sources: Spam (Reddit Help) ↗ How do I keep spam out of my community? (Reddit Help) ↗

04. When you need people: post the role, not the pitch

A co-founder, a CTO, an advisor or a partner does not come from a launch day. They come from a post that says exactly what you are building, what you need from them, what you offer in return and how much time it takes, posted where people already describe what they help with.

Launch venues bring signups. For the people side, Solution is built for exactly this: finding the right person and starting a conversation that has a reason. People there say what they help with and what they are looking for, so you are not guessing who is open to joining a startup, and your request does not scroll away in a feed: the replies come to you in one place. Here is the sequence. Create your free startup page with what the startup does, its stage, what it is raising and which roles you need. Post a Co-founder request for the CTO or co-founder you want, a Partner request for an advisor, or a Paid role, and say what you offer and where. Search people by what they help with, what they are looking for, their field and their place, and see who is open to work. Smart Connections adds picks with the reason each person fits, which makes a good first line for your message. What is free and what needs Membership: a profile, exploring the network, following people and startups, a startup page and your first three messages are free, and you can see that Smart Connections has picked people for you. Membership lets you message anyone directly, see who those picks are and why each one fits, post and answer requests, and use the Investor Desk, the directory, events and sharing posts and articles.

Before you commit to anyone who answers, a short paid or unpaid trial on a real task tells you more than ten calls. The cofounder trial project guide shows how to set one up, and how to find a startup mentor covers the advisor side.

Sources: Solution: The Hub For Startups ↗

05. When you need investors: public posts are the weakest route

Posting your round in a public forum rarely starts a serious investor conversation. Investors mostly respond to founders they already know of, or to someone they trust who makes the introduction.

Two things work better. First, a short monthly update to everyone who might care, which builds the familiarity that makes a later ask easy; how to write an investor update email has a template. Second, a specific request to someone who knows both you and the investor, covered in how to ask for a warm investor introduction.

On Solution the investor side works the same way: with a reason, and with the context in front of both of you. Your free startup page says what you are raising, and investors can put their stage, field, place, check size and thesis on their profile, so you can read the fit before you reach out; the Investor role chip in search narrows the list. When an investor wants to look, share your deck and it lands in their Investor Desk as a new deal. After they back you, the updates you post on your startup page reach them there. Signed-in members can also believe in your startup, and you get a notification saying who. Exploring, your startup page and your first three messages are free; messaging investors directly after that and the Investor Desk are part of Membership.

Sources: Solution: The Hub For Startups ↗

06. One post template that works almost anywhere

Change the wording for each place, but keep the order. Say what it is in one sentence, who it is for, the one thing you want from readers, and that you are around to answer. Leave out adjectives that only you believe.

Read the place's rules first and follow them even when other people do not. Hacker News and Product Hunt both say not to ask for votes, and Reddit moderators remove posts that break a community's own rules.

Title: [What it does] for [who it is for]

I built [product] because [the problem, in one honest sentence from your own experience].

It does [the one main thing]. You can try it here without signing up: [link]. It does not yet do [the obvious missing thing].

What I need from you: [one specific question, e.g. which of these two pricing pages is clearer, or would you pay for X].

I'm here all day and will answer every comment.

Sources: Show HN guidelines (Hacker News) ↗ Launch on Product Hunt ↗ Spam (Reddit Help) ↗

07. Tag every link so you know which place worked

Google Analytics reads campaign tags on your links and shows them in the Traffic acquisition report. Its help page says to always set utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that values are case sensitive, and that lowercase is the safe habit, because Reddit and reddit show up as two different rows.

Give each place its own source, keep one medium for the type of channel and one campaign name for the whole push. For example: utm_source=hackernews, utm_medium=community, utm_campaign=oct-launch. A week later, compare places by the outcome you wrote down in step one: signups for a users goal, useful replies for a feedback goal, conversations for a people goal. Visits alone will mislead you.

Keep a small sheet with the place, the date, the link you used, what came back and what you would change. After two or three rounds you will know your three places, and you can stop reading lists of two hundred.

Sources: URL builders: Collect campaign data with custom URLs (Google Analytics Help) ↗