Guide · Founder distribution
Where to promote your startup without spamming the internet.
Hundreds of launch lists exist. The harder question is what each place is actually good for, what kind of post belongs there, and what to do after launch day.
The useful mental model
A list of websites is not a distribution strategy.
Posting to 100 places can create less value than choosing five places for five different jobs. Before you submit anything, decide whether you need a launch spike, user feedback, long-term discovery, useful conversations, or buyer trust.
Launch sequence
Do not make launch day carry the whole company.
A stronger launch happens in waves. Feedback comes first, the public announcement comes second, and durable distribution continues after the launch traffic disappears.
Feedback before promotion
Alpha and beta communities · RoastMyStartup · niche groups · direct outreach
Recruit a small number of testers, ask for critiques, post in feedback-oriented communities, and fix the obvious problems before the main launch.
Public launch
Product Hunt · Show HN · Peerlist · BetaList · Uneed
Choose one or two launch surfaces where the audience matches your product. Prepare the story, visuals, demo, founder comment, and follow-up before launch day.
Long-tail distribution
AlternativeTo · SaaSHub · G2 · Capterra · Reddit · LinkedIn · DEV
Turn one launch into many durable discovery assets. Add the product to relevant directories, publish useful content, earn reviews, and keep contributing where users already gather.
Distribution map
Start with the channel's job, not its popularity.
This is a curated starting set, not a claim that every listing is worth your time. Filter by the type of distribution you need, then check the platform's current rules and fit before posting.
Launch-day attention, feedback, social proof
Prepare the page and launch story before asking for support.
Developer tools, technical products, interesting builds
Lead with what you built, what is novel, and what you learned.
Early products looking for first testers
Submit while the product still feels early and invite feedback.
Developer and maker products
Use a crisp product story and engage with other builders.
Small products and indie launches
Good for another launch surface after your main announcement.
Founder feedback, build stories, early traction
Share the process, numbers, lessons, or a specific question.
Side projects, demos, launch feedback
Show what you built and make the post interesting without relying on the link.
Progress updates, experiments, founder learning
Document decisions, milestones, mistakes, and changes over time.
Positioning, landing-page, and product feedback
Ask for a real critique and be ready to act on it.
Beta testers and structured feedback
Be explicit about what is ready, what is not, and the feedback you need.
SaaS founder conversations and lessons
Teach or ask before you promote. Check current link and karma rules first.
Web products and technical show-and-tell
Check current self-promotion rules and use the appropriate showcase format.
Self-hosted and privacy-first software
Only post if the product genuinely fits the community's interests.
iOS apps and developer feedback
Check the current app showcase rules before posting.
Android app discovery and feedback
Use the current self-promotion format and disclose that you built the app.
Competitor and alternative searches
Make your category, use case, and comparison positioning accurate.
Software discovery and alternative pages
Maintain an accurate listing and monitor competitor/category placement.
AI products and AI-tool discovery
Useful when the product has a real AI use case, not just AI branding.
Open-source alternatives
Best for products that genuinely qualify as an open alternative.
Developer infrastructure and tooling
Publish the product and the stack context developers care about.
B2B software comparison and buyer research
Prioritize once customers can leave meaningful reviews.
Commercial-intent software discovery
Useful once your category and buyer are clear enough to support comparison shopping.
Trust and branded review searches
Do not chase reviews before the product and support experience are ready.
Developer education and technical stories
Turn launch lessons, tutorials, or engineering decisions into useful articles.
Developer tutorials and technical SEO
Publish useful technical content that naturally demonstrates the product.
B2B, founder-led distribution, operators
Post through a person when possible. Lead with the buyer's problem, not company news.
Republishing useful essays and searchable stories
Use it as a secondary distribution surface rather than your only content home.
Reddit works when the post would be useful even if your product did not exist.
The easiest way to get ignored is to write an ad and disguise it as a community post. The better approach is to use Reddit for research, conversation, useful stories, feedback, and specific demonstrations. Promotion becomes part of the context instead of the entire point.
Pick the audience first
A subreddit that allows promotion is not automatically useful. Start with where your users actually spend time.
Read before posting
Check the rules, pinned posts, recent top posts, and how founders are received before writing anything.
Make the post useful without the link
A teardown, lesson, dataset, question, build story, or specific result should still be worth reading if the link disappears.
Disclose your connection
If you built the product, say so. Trying to look like an unrelated customer is both risky and unnecessary.
Do not paste the same launch copy everywhere
Change the angle for the community. Developers, operators, consumers, and founders care about different things.
Stay for the conversation
Reply to criticism, answer questions, collect the language people use, and update the product or message when the feedback is good.
Community rules and promotion flairs change. Always check the current subreddit rules before posting, even when an older launch list says promotion is allowed.
Measurement
Track the places that produce useful users, not the longest submission list.
A simple founder rule
Keep a small distribution ledger: channel, post or listing, angle, visits, signups, activation, customers, feedback, and whether you would do it again. After a few launches, your own data becomes more useful than any generic list.
Source library
The lists worth keeping bookmarked.
These projects are useful as source inventories. Treat them as living research inputs, not as a requirement to submit everywhere.
Broad promotion inventory across news sites, product pages, article platforms, directories, and niche surfaces.
Large crowdsourced list of startup websites and subreddits, originally assembled from Hacker News discussions.
Practical founder marketing library covering launch, Reddit, SEO, GEO, content, outreach, paid, research, conversion, and more.
Broader startup reference covering customer development, company building, communities, growth resources, tools, and places to post.
Your next move
Pick one feedback channel, one public launch surface, three relevant directories, and one community where you can contribute for the next month. That is enough to start learning what distribution actually works for your product.
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