"It is now almost unthinkable for a new product to launch without posting on the platform. It represents an opportunity to win new users and attention at no added cost, often resulting in meaningful valuation changes."

"Ship changed that by offering pre-launch audience-building tools. This represented Product Hunt's first attempt at generating subscription revenue and remains part of the platform today."

"By the time Product Hunt graduated from the accelerator, it had attracted tens of thousands of visitors, growing 75% month-over-month."

"Hoover created a group on the platform, invited some startup friends, and asked them to contribute by sharing links to their favorite products."

"Product Hunt was an early example ofstarting with a community and then building the product, rather than the other way around."

"Hoover found a kindred spirit in Ravikant, someone who had devoted his life to helping new ventures get their start. That resonated with Hoover's mission. Shortly after that meeting, Ravikant asked to invest."

"More than winning new users, Product Hunt won affection, building a genuine, warm community very different than the snark and sarcasm of Hacker News or Reddit. Much of that was down to Hoover himself, by all accounts a genuinely kind, charismatic leader."

"Ryan is the best community and product person I've ever met. No one could have built Product Hunt as he did. He's a master of community, partially because he's so genuinely likable. And he's likable at scale."

"There was only one problem: Product Hunt wasn't making money. That had been a strategic choice, with Hoover prioritizing the platform's growth, a playbook pioneered by other consumer hits. Today, Hoover remarks that ""in hindsight, I would have dedicated 10% of our resources toward [generating revenue]."""

"In pursuit of revenue, Product Hunt launched a ""Shop"" in partnership with General Electric. The company also explored other verticals, integrating podcasts and book reviews. It didn't move the needle."

"By late 2016, Hoover had two choices: a Series B on unfavorable terms or a new alliance with AngelList."

"Hoover notes that Live Chat was ""This was VERY effective in building the brand in the early days"" but didn't make a meaningful difference at scale."

"Hoover had been thinking of leaving for a while. After seven years spent building one of the internet's liveliest communities, he felt it was time to turn the page."

"Product Hunt makes the majority of its revenue through advertisements. The company sells five sponsorship products: promoted listings, email collection, topic-based ads, newsletter sponsorship, and job postings."

"According to Hoover, Product Hunt forecasts $3.3 million in revenue this year, with $2.9 million coming from advertising. The remaining $400K in revenue comes from Ship and Founder Club subscriptions (more below). Hoover notes that the company was nearly profitable in 2020."

"Product Hunt should clear room for new growth by shuttering or transforming the site's least used corners."

"Because of the platform's focus on individual launches, the relationship that forms between consumer and maker is time-bound."

"Leveraging early traction data (number of email sign-ups, for example), Product Hunt could bring Early into this flow, giving an extra distribution bump to promising projects."

"Founders often need help before they have an idea, let alone a product to work on. To front-run the existing maker flow, Product Hunt should establish an incubator."

"Though its arguably never been easier to launch a startup, it’s never been harder to gain attention."

"In the past, companies launched products to gain attention, to win customers, to attract investment. With a crowdfunding model, all three of those needs (attention, customers, and investment) could happen at once."

"Next-generation social has one thing in common"

"1. Spontaneous. Bring serendipity to the internet."

"2. Social. Making the internet friendlier."

"3. Raw. Unedited, anything can happen."

"The success of these apps reminds us that we all want a little more humanity, immediacy and spontaneity in our lives online."

"The questions to ask when building the next big thing for the internet are: How does this improve the experience of hanging out online? Does this give people a space to hang out in?"

"We are going to continue to see new apps tackle old types of content in new ways. The key to success will be designing for immediacy and giving people new places to hang out online."

"Everything to everyone is not nearly the optimal learning environment (see my post on The Unbundling of Reddit). Udemy prides itself on its vast catalogue to ""study any topic"". But, vast has passed. As the internet is becoming increasingly bespoke, we crave smaller, more thoughtful communities."

"Education 3.0 created companies that were designed to replicate the social experience of college, a book club, or group class online. Part of the fun of learning a new skill is the social aspect, which is lost on 99% of edtech startups who think too transactionally and — dare I say — too efficiently."

"Instead of recommendations from store clerks, Rdio gave recommendations from people you know. Those are the best recommendations anyways."

"Never underestimate the power of a really solid recommendation. Recommendations builds trust and trust build word-of-mouth."

"Sometimes smaller is better. In a world of noise, offering a focused alternative can be a winning differentiation."

"There will be more censorship (ie: Twitter) and less censorship (ie: Parler)"

"It will be easier and easier to make impulsive community purchases. This is a major win-win for both community leaders and members."

"As the social internet becomes more intimate with the rise of vertical networks and social networks for your best friends, features that auto share implicitly will be en-vogue."

"Implicit social sharing gives excuses for conversations and allows for people to feel closer to their friends and family."

"Hundreds of millions of people will be adopting auto-sharing daily."

"I predict we will see an audio social network be a billion dollar company faster than a podcast company."

"Ad-models are out, paid social apps are in. We're going to see social apps that charge $5-5,000/month (yes, $5,000/month)."

"TLDR; social is becoming ""stretchy"""

"here's my final prediction: 2021 will prove to be one of the best damn years in history to build a social startup."

"There are hundreds of wonderful startups waiting to be built using this simple strategy: create a product that serves the unmet needs of an individual subreddit."

"Subreddits that have grown ~40% or more in the last 6 months are the most promising"

"It doesn't have to be millions of subscribers - anything over 50K is an opportunity to build a multi-million dollar business."

"The perfect subreddit is one that you're especially well-suited for."

"It's important to be passionate about the topic you choose. You need to be able to connect with the community authentically."

"Aim to spend 1-2 hours everyday on the subreddit."

"pro-tip: some of the best posts have lots of comments but not a lot of upvotes"

"The most important thing is to be authentic. Engage like a human - don't spam or use marketing speak. At this stage, you aren't looking to establish a brand or sell anything."

"Instead of focusing on an action a member took, focus on what motivated them to take that action."

"Look for themes that emerge. Pay special attention to problems that your startup could make a real dent in."

"The best options are usually Discord servers, Slacks, Instagram pages, or Facebook Groups. You'll have to make a judgement call on which to use based on the demographics of your subreddit."

"brainstorm ways you can help with the needs you uncovered. Try to think of the smallest thing you can build that will solve a problem for them."

"Building is old, co-building is the future."

"Step 1: Find a Subreddit"

"It's growing fast."

"It has a critical mass of subscribers."

"You have a competitive advantage there."

"You're passionate about it."

"Take notice of which posts resonate with the community"

"Your only job is to make genuine connections and learn from them."

"While you spend time in the community, always be thinking about what problems they face."

"What recommendations do they ask for? Do they keep complaining about something specific? If you were trying to achieve their goals, what would make it easier?"

"Do they keep complaining about something specific?"

"If you were trying to achieve their goals, what would make it easier?"

"Step 4: Create a Closer Space for Communication"

"Once you've gotten comfortable with the community, take your connection from dialup to fiber by creating your own gathering place."

"The best options are usually Discord servers, Slacks, Instagram pages, or Facebook Groups."

"Step 5: Build Something for Them"

"Figure out what to build"

"Build it"

"Launch it"

"Before I started building, I would ask the community if they thought the investment checklist would be useful and what features would make it great. Building is old, co-building is the future."

"Step 6: Build on Top of What You Built"

"At this point, you have two very valuable resources: your space and your product"

"Build in social components. Add on features to cover more of the community's problems."

"Step 2: Join the Subreddit"

"Step 3: See What They Want"

"Community and commerce will converge"

"The social internet will look a lot like the shopping mall of the 1990s."

"Is the shopping mall a social hangout or a place to transact? It's both."

"Communities will arm their members with the new tools to transact. It will be easier and easier to make impulsive community purchases"

"The rise of implicit social networking"

"Explicit: you explicitly decide to post on Instagram or Twitter"

"Implicit: you automatically post to your social network (ie: location, music listening to, achievements made)"

"There will be two breakout audio social networks"

"One that is Twitter for Audio."

"One that is Houseparty for Audio"

"Paying for social will become the norm"

"We will see one breakout crypto community"

"We're going to see more platforms dabble and popular communities successfully add a crypto layer to their business."

"There will be 1-2 new novel ways of hanging out virtually"

"But what if there was a way to eliminate much of the risk without losing out on the possible reward?"

"My prediction: product studios will breed major outcomes for founders."

"A product studio is a lab for generating and testing ideas, then turning them into businesses."

"You can think of the studio model as a powerful de-risking machine"

"The main way it de-risks is through diversification."

"Studios improve their chances of success by taking a bunch of shots on net rather than just one."

"Golfers (vertical) AR (category) Streamers (vertical) Older adults (psychographic) → Alive Ventures Professional networking (category)"

"If your studio has a strong focus, you get to apply the learnings from one experiment to the next. It’s network effects 101."

"Run a services business"

"Raise VC"

"Acquire a profitable business"

"Here's an overview of the Late Checkout process:"

"Generate an idea:"

"Flesh out the idea:"

"Launch an experiment:"

"Create a project:"

"Create a big company:"

"2021 will be a rush to create new online spaces."

"1. Open Spaces: We hang out in servers/clubs/rooms."

"2. In the moment: Live shows and timed access to/release of content brings excitement and spontaneity to the internet."

"Spaces"

"How does this improve the experience of hanging out online? Does this give people a space to hang out in?"

"Clubhouse: Listen in"

"On Clubhouse there’s a sense that anything can happen. Raw, unedited conversations keep listeners on their toes"

"Scheduled shows and special guests build hype and grow audiences."

"Discord: Stay a while"

"A Discord server is a perfect place to hang out online."

"Discord is less about listening in and more about contributing"

"Discord servers for everything from video game franchises to restaurant chains invite fans and community members to bring their thoughts and opinions to the platform."

"Dispo: Check this out"

"Dispo is bringing spontaneity and serendipity to photo sharing."

"The timed release of photos every day builds a network of curious users."

"It’s refreshing to see exactly what’s up in people’s lives without so much curation."

"Parsec: Remote together"

"Parsec enables remote access of computers in a network."

"Cappuccino is all about close relationships and close contact."

"Leave a brief message for loved ones that they hear the next morning at 9am."

"In this case, messages aren’t dull emails or quick texts but snippets of a loved one."

"It’s a sneak peak into the brain of your closest friends as they type."