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Ask HN: Are waitlist launches a no go on Hacker News?
Pretty new around here. Is launching a waitlist for an upcoming product a good idea? If yes, how much context-sharing is too much or too little?
- andrewstuart 3y agoIt’s not OK now but it used to be OK. Ten years ago I put up up posting that was just a page asking people for “I’m interested” emails. 176 points, 198 comments. We got about 15,000 registrations I think. Comments did not whip us for such a post. One included “you have my respect from the bottom of my heart.” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6062876 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6062876
- gardenhedge 3y agoPut the link in your about at least. Some of us do like seeing what is launching soon.
- Kalpeshbhalekar 3y agoThere has to be some value added to the visitors. If a part of the product is avaialbe to explore while a premium version is waitlisted, I think that's cool.
- penaazv 3y agoFair enough. Thanks!
- laserstrahl 3y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- penaazv 3y agoThanks!
- tikkun 3y agoIn addition to the other link posted, see also this for Show HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html Waitlists are a no-go for 'Show HN' launches HN likes things that are interesting and generally prefers more details rather than less. You could write a blog post about a really interesting aspect of your product, or of building your product, and share that, or you could share a usable demo of your product.
- bdcravens 3y agoA signup form at in the blog is a good idea, but HN readers tend to be quick to call out being sold to, so you have to deliver on the content.
- penaazv 3y agoWas previously thinking of adding it as a secondary CTA but looks like it isn't such a good idea after all. The thing about more details is super helpful! Thanks a bunch :)
- beardyw 3y agoWhat counts is the content of your submission. It needs to be interesting in itself. That is, whatever the opposite of a teaser is.
- penaazv 3y agoFair enough. Thanks a bunch!
- rchaud 3y agoIt's not Product Hunt, so please don't post "lead gen" stuff here. If you have a blog post on a related topic that mentions your product, I think that is usually OK, as it's not link spamming.
- pests 3y agoShe's asking a question if waitlists are a good launch strategy. This may not be Product Hunt but it is Hacker News, a forum ran by Y Combinator, which is a startup incubator. I think its perfectly fine to ask questions about startups here without having to warn people about "lead gen".
- penaazv 3y agoThe blog post route seems fair enough. Thank you so much!
- simonw 3y agoI imagine you'll have a LOT of trouble getting people to vote for them.
- BugsJustFindMe 3y agoForget about HN for a moment and ask yourself who benefits from a waitlist announcement vs waiting to announce your launch until the product actually exists. The only party who benefits from a waitlist is the owner of the list. That's great for that person, but spam contact harvesting pollution for everyone else, which is ultimately destructive to the community. "Great for me but destructive pollution for the community" defines an antisocial act. Is selfish community harm something that you want people to associate with your brand?
- arcastroe 3y agoWaitlists are mutually beneficial. Users actively sign up to receive updates because they are interested in the product and want to be notified about it's progress and launch. If you see it as "spam", then don't add your email to the list.
- BugsJustFindMe 3y agoA great way of notifying people about a launch is to announce it when you launch. Harvesting emails without a product doesn't help you notify people any better than announcing the actual thing when it's actually available to actually use. The reach is identical.
- s3p 3y agoThis is not entirely true. What about services that actively want to add people, but just need time to scale up their resources? Then they can add users as they have the capacity to. I signed up on Beeper's waitlist a few months ago and just got access last week. I am extremely happy with their service and believe it was well worth the wait. There was no spam and destruction, only a short wait and then I got access. Can you see how it is potentially beneficial to do this rather than hope you get the exact amount of users you can handle at any moment in time?
- falcor84 3y agoThat's not what this thread is about; the OP explicitly said "for an upcoming product". As I see it, it depends on the default. If you are already actively taking on users but are throttling the sign-ups due to unexpectedly high demand, that's much more legitimate than just getting people's emails into a list, knowing it will be months before you're able to sign them up.
- huydotnet 3y agoCommunity policy aside. Does your question mean that you're worried about people will take your idea and build the product themself? In most cases, that will not be the case. One can't just simply take an idea, rush to build it and release it overnight and be a competitor with you. Building a product is much harder than that. And even if you get a competitor, it's a good way to validate your idea.
- penaazv 3y agoUm, not really. It was more about wanting to know if this is something that can be considered, or it doesn't interest people at all. Might as well straight up do a product launch on ShowHN if it's not cool to choose this approach. Appreciate your input though. :)
- betterprojects 3y agoDang, HN’s moderator, have written about this before. Here is a recent example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35178503 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35178503 Generally speaking, a waitlist isn’t interesting and doesn’t add value because users can’t try the product. It might be valuable to the creator but it can wait to be announced on HN when the product is ready. As some others have suggested, you could write a detailed blog post about the values and share other details to see if that is valuable to the community and perhaps offer an opt in on your blog instead. Good luck!
- penaazv 3y agoSounds pretty fair. Thanks a bunch! :)
- samwillis 3y agoThe most successful product lunches on HN are the ones where people can try it out immediately, no paywall, no registration, just straight in and have a go. Waitlists, or "pre announcements" very very rarely get voted into the front page.
- penaazv 3y agoThis turns out to be (almost) a collective response. Thank you, Sam!
- tomp 3y ago“Waitlist launches” aren’t launches, they’re marketing tricks. Your mileage might vary, though in my experience HN folks aren’t too fond of scams.
- penaazv 3y agoThe intent was to gauge potential interest among users but yes, I get where you're coming from. It's likely to be seen more as a pull strategy instead. Thanks for your input!
- ta346635745 3y agoThe sleazy language also. Marketing ... aka I like manipulating people and calling it nice words! Get a real job.
- was_a_dev 3y agoRefreshing to hear someone asking for permission rather than forgiveness
- penaazv 3y agoMade me smile, and remember Mike Ross from Suits :)