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
Yesterday we launched on Product Hunt and finished #13. Out of ~500 launches, that puts us in roughly the top 2 3%, which I m genuinely proud of especially with heavy hitters (even GitHub!) launching the same day and not taking the top spots. One thing that surprised me (and honestly disappointed me a bit): Product Hunt filters comments heavily. We had 60 100 people from our community friends, family, LinkedIn followers upvote and comment, but none of those comments showed up. Some even disappeared after I replied. Not seeing that early feedback sucked, to be honest. That said huge thank you to everyone who supported Votap yesterday. Your votes, messages, and DMs meant a lot More tomorrow.
We ve worked in two other eco-systems (India & France), and each has clear strengths and trade-offs in terms of talent density, cost of building, access to capital, speed of decision-making, and openness to risk all vary a lot.
Curious to hear from founders and operators who ve built outside the US:
Which ecosystem punches the most above its weight today?
Where do you see the best balance between talent, capital, and customer access?
Are there cities/countries that are especially strong for specific stages (0 1 vs scaling) or specific verticals (AI, fintech, climate, SaaS, deep tech)?
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.
I've built my product around traditional SaaS pricing (monthly tiers), but I m starting to wonder if that model is getting outdated, especially with more AI-powered and compute-heavy tools entering the market. That shift requires real architectural changes, instrumentation, metering, billing logic, and UI changes, not just pricing tweaks. It s something I m starting to seriously think about for my own product.
In particular, AI usage has real COGs (every prompt costs money), and I m seeing more platforms experimenting with usage-based models, or hybrids like SaaS base + usage + overage.
For those of you building AI or compute-intensive tools:
This is something I ll find out in just a short while, one week from now (Jan 28), as I m about to re-launch a digital detox app. If you want, follow, maybe you will be on watch of my steps and activities
Since I haven't been able to meet my work goals very well in the last few quarters, I now plan to approach them more systematically and not push myself too hard on work goals, as that ultimately led to problems that made my plan less sustainable.
For me, productivity means getting (more) results faster in less time. My goals for 2026 are closely linked to the fact that I want to learn a lot of things, which will require a lot of concentration.
Therefore, I think that a large part of what I want to gain will be ensured by:
I learned this the hard way after forgetting 90% of the words I spent months studying.
Here's the thing: your brain doesn't store information just because you've seen it. Highlighting words, writing them down once, even using them in a sentence - none of that guarantees retention.
I have to admit I m a tragedy when it comes to being first at trying new technology or so which means I ve fallen for more scams and shady situations than I d like to count.
(At least I can warn my friends and family before they make the same mistakes, so that's the only advantage.)
I decided to share some best practices I regret not doing sooner:
On June 14, 2023, the European Parliament officially voted to ban unpaid internships.
This honestly made me happy, because I remember how, during college, I was expected to spend a full 2 months working full-time at an advertising agency as an unpaid intern (Spoiler alert: I fought for and got some pay ), but that wasn t the norm.