Ask HN: How do I open up my side project to the world?

Hi HN,

I’ve been working on a small side project for a few weeks. It solves a personal pain point and I really enjoy building it. I’m now reaching the point where I’d like to open it up to the world — not necessarily to turn it into a startup, but to share it and maybe get feedback or users.

The thing is, I’m quite new to all this. I’ve never really launched anything before. I don’t know how to "put it out there" without sounding too self-promotional or spammy. I really want people to tell me what's wrong with it.

What’s the best way to do this?

I’d love to hear your experience, or what’s worked for you in the past.

Thanks a lot!

(P.S. If it’s OK I’d be happy to share a link when it will be ready, but right now I’m just asking for advice.)

11 points

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picolas

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12 days ago

14 comments

realityfactchex ・ 12 days ago

Ideas:

Here's a YC Startup School video called How to Launch (Again and Again) wiht Kat Manalac (YC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u36A-YTxiOw&list=PLQ-uHSnFig...

Figure out where people who would want to use your project hang out online. Share it there (if those places allow sharing projects and don't have a policy against it).

Offer helpful advice in subreddits, Discords, Telegram, and other channels where people who would like your project hang out. Don't spam your project, but do keep your project link in your profile, so that people who are really impressed by your helpfulness check it out, they will see it.

If you have $, maybe see what people search for who would be interested in your project, and experiment with Google, Meta, or other (AI?) ad platforms. But start small, it is easy to spend a lot.

Or else just write prolifically about it. Once a day/week/month, make sure your log gets indexed by search engines and gets back links.

Put your project on Product Hunt if it is made into a product and launches.

Always be launching.

Give informational content that is succinct and helpful, and better than other educational content on the topic, and put that on YouTube. Incorporate your product or at least link to it in the Description if it is indeed related, which it should be for this.

PaulHoule ・ 12 days ago

Try a "Show HN" for starters. Whatever you do don't post an Ask HN with a link in it because that's a classic rookie mistake -- links don't work in an Ask HN post!

If you say "people won't understand my product if they just visit the landing page" you're doing it wrong! The expectation is that people will visit your landing page with zero context so your landing page must say enough about your product that it stands on its own. If you really want to explain a bit it is OK to post a comment on your own "Show HN"

  • runjake ・ 12 days ago

    Just keep in mind you're likely to get a lot of harsh criticism in the mix. That's just how HN is. So take it in stride and don't let it make you quit.

    • picolas ・ 12 days ago

      You guys seems to be pretty cool, you saying HN is not like that? Or people will just try to challenge my project in order to help me?

      • runjake ・ 11 days ago

        > Or people will just try to challenge my project in order to help me?

        Both. I think people mean well, but there's sometimes a lack of EQ.

  • picolas ・ 12 days ago

    Noted for "Show HN". Btw, is it okay to "Show HN" if there is a paid feature in it? I didn't read something about that in the HN welcome part. I will definitely work on my landing so people can understand the project without me being there, explaining the thing^^. Thanks for your time :)

    • PaulHoule ・ 12 days ago

      It's no problem if it costs money, just as long as you are being honest about us and not spamming posts from your blog over and over again (turn on "showdead" on your profile and you'll see what a common rookie mistake that is!)

  • leros ・ 12 days ago

    This doesn't make sense depending what it is. I've shared stuff on Show HN with absolutely zero response.

    I've found Reddit to be much better. Found relevant communities and share.

    • PaulHoule ・ 12 days ago

      If you don't get a response that doesn't mean you violated the rules of the community, it just means you didn't get a response.

      There's a much bigger question of how to promote something effectively. Unfortunately a lot of people are seduced by something like "get into TechCrunch" or "get to the top of Product Hunt" or "Tik Tok will make me a star without me doing anything."

      The short of it is that marketing takes 100x the effort that you think it would, especially if you don't want to spend a lot on paid media, but it takes a lot of effort even if you do. Unless you're exceptionally lucky the first 10 things you try will disappoint you, that's how it is.

      • leros ・ 12 days ago

        I just mean it wasn't of interest to the HackerNews community. I was able to find better communities on Reddit.

  • fuzzfactor ・ 12 days ago

    Good advice.

    Lots of times it makes better sense to put effort into opening up the world to your project, in advance of opening the project up to the world :)

v5v3 ・ 10 days ago

Which Tech stack?