Ryan Hoover is handing out golden tickets like Willy Wonka right now. The show is Product Hunt, Hoover’s web platform for showcasing 15-20 new technology products each day that are then tested, voted upon and catalogued by the sites users, which currently number in the hundreds of thousands per month. Of those hundreds of thousands of users, only 8,000 carefully chosen influencers possess the power to post new product on the site.

That type of platform and its exclusivity wouldn’t bother me or my colleagues if Product Hunt was Meh, but its not. It is the very definition of disruptive. Take a look at the two graphics below and you can start to get a sense of the power of Product Hunt and the PR community’s desire to own one of Hoover’s golden tickets.

Product Hunt The pie chart shows web traffic generated over a two-week span following Caliber’s recent launch. Impressive to say the least! Now have a look at the results of another startup, Noble Brewer, that launched on Product Hunt in April. Don’t skip the story that accompanies the data! It is instructive and hilarious, all in one.

Noble Brewer

If you are in the PR game these graphics should shake your foundation a bit. Is there a more important metric for startups than web traffic right now? This trend might make you want to rethink your launch strategies for startups going forward, and including posting on Product Hunt as a key launch tactic, but therein lies your problem. You don’t have a golden ticket.

Continue reading this post here if you are interested in learning how to become a member of the Product Hunt posting club.

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