The Hacker News Show HN Guide for Indie Founders

A successful Show HN submission can send thousands of targeted visitors — technical founders, developers, and early adopters — to your product in 12 hours. The audience is small compared to Product Hunt but highly discerning and often more valuable for the right type of product.

What makes a good Show HN post

Show HN posts should be for things you have actually built that are usable today. The community responds well to honest, specific descriptions: "I built X because Y existing solutions do Z poorly. Here is how mine works differently." It should not read like a press release.

The title

Your title is everything. "Show HN: [Product Name] – [specific description of what it does]" is the standard format. Be specific and literal. "Show HN: A tool to verify SaaS metrics from source and create a public founder profile" outperforms "Show HN: The identity layer for builders" every time on HN.

The first comment

Post a detailed comment immediately after submitting. Explain the problem you are solving, the technical approach you took, and what you are looking for from the community (feedback, not just signups). The HN community respects technical depth and intellectual honesty.

Timing

Post between 8am and 10am ET on a weekday for the best chance of hitting the front page. Weekend posts get less traffic. Monday and Friday are the weakest days.

Handling criticism

HN commenters will find every weakness in your product and naming. Engage with it honestly. Defensiveness kills posts. Genuine responses, including "you are right, that is a limitation I am working on," earn respect and often more upvotes.