Have you had success launching on Product Hunt against the big players?

I’m curious - have any small indie devs here successfully launched on Product Hunt and managed to stand out against bigger companies with large followings?

It seems like a great platform for visibility, but with so many well-funded teams dominating the leaderboard, I wonder how realistic it is for solo founders or small teams to break through.

I'm not here to promote my product and I have already launched a different product on PH before, but it was my first ever and I honestly had no idea what I was doing.

Whereas this time I really want to push my new product and it's close to launching - I'm wondering whether to bother setting expectations. I don't have a social media following but I've tried to raise awareness where I can.

It's just quite daunting seeing the launches of the day with hundreds of upvotes I guess.

If you’ve launched, what worked for you? Did you focus on pre-launch marketing, community engagement, or something else? And for those who didn’t get much traction, what do you think went wrong?

Would love to hear your experiences and any tips you have for indie founders trying to fit in!