Product Hunt is going on tour to a place near you
I just came back from meeting Product Hunters in SF, NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia, and I deeply confirmed what I already knew: Product Hunt, for whatever reason, brings awesome people together.
In NYC and Boston, we had over a few hundred people come out. Philly brought almost a couple hundred. SF had 900 RSVPs.
Just a bunch of startup-hungry, cat-tee loving, kind-hearted Product Hunters.
Nearly 100 people in cities around the world have submitted requests for meetups, but we need leaders to take ownership in making them a reality. We can’t possibly make it to most cities, but I’d love to make some of them, and regardless we’d love to help you get it off the ground.
If you want to meet awesome PH-ers — founders, investors, journalists, and product enthusiasts from all industries — organize a meet up in your city. It’s a great way to bring together people within your startup neighborhood and get exposure for yourself as a leader in your community
Here’s how to organize a meet up:
1) Partner with community leaders or organizations.
In NYC, Alley NYC stepped up. In Boston, it was General Assembly. In Philly, it was two young Venture for America fellows who organized it.
What’s key is that you and your co-hosts take responsibility for the event. We can try to connect you to other PH-ers in your city to co-host but ultimately it’s your team that’s gonna make it happen (and will reap the rewards of organizing).
2) Pick a format.
Most meet ups have followed something like this format following this format:
6:30 - 7:15pm - Mingling + food/drinks
7:15 - 8:00pm - Brief intro, 3 product demos with Q&A, AMA with special invited person
This is a standard template, but pick whatever works best for you. We’ve also had people do informal happy hours at bars, we’ve had some people do more instructional sessions on “How to use product hunt”, and I just had someone ask if they can organize a PH poetry reading.
Some of these cities have chosen to host them monthly, others bi-monthly, with different special guests and products demoing every time.
3) Get an invite up and let us know.
Feel free to pick splashthat.com, or do a standard facebook invite, and send us the link so we can put it up on the meetups page and promote it in our email and social channels.
You guys are an amazing group of people - supportive, interesting, and deeply intelligent — and you should meet fellow PH-ers in real life. Call us for cat stickers, and if you’re organizing, your free cat t-shirt :)