After more than three years of observing this platform (mainly in the forums), I can see which posts have helped you the most. [Yes, I can tell based on their performance.] In addition to updated news from the tech industry, you liked the most:
website roasting and
tagline adjustments/improvements for launch day (mostly from @aaronoleary )
Today, I read in Techcrunch that India has an ambition to "compete" with the US and China in the startup scene:
India has updated its startup rules to better support deep tech companies in sectors like space, semiconductors, and biotech, which take longer to mature.
Our team is planning to launch a new version of our product on Product Hunt next week, after a period of optimization and improvements. As we get closer to launch day, I realize there s a lot to prepare, and I m curious about how other teams usually approach this process.
So far, here s what we ve been focusing on:
Most importantly, making sure the product works well and delivers real value
Continuous testing to ensure performance and stability
Designing clean and clear product screenshots
Preparing a summary of what s been updated, fixed, or optimized
Writing launch content (tagline, description, first comment, etc.)
Maintaining good health and a stable mindset for the launch
Expanding our network and connecting with other makers
After four long years of grinding, building, fundraising, and hiring, we decided to pivot. I wanted to write down my thought process and timeline because I wish I d seen more honest pivot stories when we were stuck. Not just we pivoted and everything was instantly great but the real version where we kept trying to make the original idea work for way too long because we already put so much into it.
I went through YC S20 (the first COVID batch) as a solo founder working on @Basedash. After YC, I did what you re supposed to do. I talked to users. I built product. I did founder-led sales. I hired a great team. It felt like progress because I was constantly busy and the product kept getting better.
Today, the productivity domain in tech is very well developed - there are tools for almost any need!
But at the same time, there s always a feeling that there might be something else, something better. All the time.
What I like about this space is that once people start using tools like Miro, Notion, Trello, ClickUp, etc., they tend to keep testing new things and experimenting with different tools.
The last 4 months have been intense, launching, testing, getting #1 product of the day and #1 productivity tool of the week here, late night bug fixes, getting featured in FORBES, & feature requests from hundreds of YOU! But watching this community grow has made every late night worth it.
Seeing this for the first time? Here's what AI Context Flow does:
It's a Chrome extension that creates one unified memory across all major AI platforms i.e. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and Perplexity.
As usual, Y Combinator came up with segments that are worth investing:
1. Cursor for Product Managers
2. AI-Native Hedge Funds
3. AI-Native Agencies
4. Stablecoin Financial Services
5. AI for Government
6. Modern Metal Mills
7. AI Guidance for Physical Work 8. Large Spatial Models 9. Infra for Government Fraud Hunters 10. Make LLMs Easy to Train
Many people have told me that being part of Gen Z comes with advantages we have time, energy, and plenty of opportunities to shape our careers in the AI era. And I do feel lucky to have grown up with technology, to have had early exposure and opportunities to learn and explore it.
But the AI era feels different. The shift is not only new, it s happening at lightning speed. Before I ve even fully adapted to working with AI, we re already seeing waves of layoffs where human roles are being replaced or reshaped by AI systems. And honestly, that creates uncertainty and anxiety not just for me, but for many people around us.
Imagine that you are about to join a startup (before raising funds) as a part-time employee. You are paid for work (compensation is like in any existing, well-established company in the industry, but you do not have regular employee benefits covering 401 plan, no equity, no health care plan, HO equipment fee, etc.)
You hope that after raising funds, you will become a full-time employee and receive benefits.
To work more efficiently and productively, we usually create some familiar patterns (habits) that shorten our time doing tasks (saving time and energy). This is also indirectly related to tools that make the work process easier.
What does your workday look like + tech tools without which you would not be productive?
A 3-year search for a simple tool to track both personal and business finances in one place. Nothing fits.
Website owners constantly need minor edits in the admin panel. They are forced to pay specialists for 5-minute tasks. We need an AI agent that does this on command in the browser.
An indie hacker spends 20-30 hours manually cold launching each new product in directories, Reddit, and blogs. There is no tool that fully automates this and proves its effectiveness.
A freelancer often loses in proposal competitions due to the inability to quickly create personalized and visual website concepts for each job order.
A Telegram channel owner is losing their audience without understanding the reasons for unsubscriptions. There is no simple tool for automatically collecting feedback from departed subscribers.
