How STORI AI got 2000+ signups from their Product Hunt launch

A quick intro about STORI AI

STORI AI lets you automate brand identity formation, produce diverse content, and manage it all cross-platform. 🎨 AI-assisted branding 📝 Content generator 🔄 Cross-platform automation.

Sandro launched STORI AI on Aug 7 2023 on Product Hunt and here is how their launch performed:

1. Upvotes: 1,441
2. Comments: 437
3. Rank of the Day: 1
4. Rank of the Week: 1
   
   

Maker Interview

Hi Sandro, Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey towards STORI AI?

A few years back, I sold my hardware company in Poland & switched to software. We started a no code web design startup called ‘didge’, and the biggest challenge for us was content.

So we created STORI AI, and soon we understood that for social media the problem was more frequent, people need content everyday. And so took this direction.

What were your goals for the Product Hunt launch?

We just wanted to prove that we made something people want, and hoped it would give us credibility with investors and startup accelerators.

At what phase did you decide to launch on PH? Was it during beta or did you have the complete product ready before you decided to launch?

Somewhere in the middle of it. ‘Beta’ icons were still active when we launched, just removed them a few days ago.

Why did you choose to hunt your product on your own without a hunter?

Since Hunter’s followers are not notified when the launch goes live, it didn’t have much value to me to get a hunter.

However, famous hunters still give credibility to the launch. On our launch day, a product hunted by Michael Siebel with 37,0000 followers ranked 1st in the beginning, While we were in the 4th position since I only had around 150 followers.

But by the end of the launch day, we moved to the 1st position overtaking that launch.

How important was the coming soon page for your launch and what were the activities you did to increase the following for your coming soon page?

It was very important, and we had around 250 followers for our coming soon page by launch day.

For growing follower list:

1. We identified people who are active on Product Hunt, and then connected with them on LinkedIn
2. We actively promoted the coming soon page on our social media and startup groups.

This helped us get 250 followers for our launch in a span of 3 weeks.

How long did you take to plan for the launch – Can you share your step-by-step action plan?

We started planning 2 months before the launch. This was our launch plan

1. Scheduled the launch and got our teaser page.
2. Started being active on Product Hunt – Supporting and commenting on other launches.
3. Researched other launches on Product Hunt.
4. Reached out to makers from PH streak board (through linkedin/twitter), Shared what we are building and asked them to follow our teaser page.
5. Joined facebook groups / other communities and shared about our upcoming launch.
6. Worked on Product Hunt assets.
   
   

Reachouts were a big part of your launch success. How did you pick the people to reach out and what was the message you used for reachout?

We looked at Product Hunt streak board and reached out to people who had around 30 days streak. We reached out to these makers on Product Hunt as they are in a similar situation like us and they were more responsive.

Our message was:

‘Hi [Name]

I see we are part of the Product Hunt community, let’s connect and support each other.’

What are the groups and communities where you shared your launch on launch day?

1. Facebook groups – Saas Warriors
2. Groups of Georgian startup community – Startup Info.
3. We also announced some startup Slack groups.
4. Whatsapp groups – Invincible Product Hunters
5. Reddit
6. Hacker news.

However, only few groups bring action, others almost none.

But groups are not something that you should rely on, “you post and they will come” – No. You need to remind everyone, reply to their questions, everything natural and personalised.

Since the first 4 hours is critical now, what are the tasks you did in the first 4 hours on the launch day to ensure that you rank in the top 3?

1. We reminded everyone about our launch
2. Then, we started posting in groups
3. And we posted on our social media pages.

We were ranked 3-4 in the beginning, however we managed to get featured and from there we took off.

Could you share some numbers from the Product Hunt launch?

We got around 2000 new signups from Product Hunt up to date. We haven’t yet implemented billing, so can’t say how many of them will become customers.

What are the 3 advices you would give to creators who’re launching on a product hunt?

1. You will be overwhelmed with communication and DMs for the 24 hours of your launch.  So get help, I mean for your personal communication as well.
2. Schedule your launch & get your teaser page as soon as possible. With this teaser page, you can invite people to follow your launch. You can always reschedule your launch if you’re not ready.
3. Before your launch, be active on Product Hunt. Check products of other makers & write actual reviews. They will reciprocate it when you launch.

Thanks a lot, Sandro for sharing your Product Hunt strategies and secrets with us.

Checkout STORI AI for more details.