一家网站每月增长70%的秘密

    胡佛及其9人团队的积极态度成功地感染了整个网站和社区。他们经常在讨论中插入一些正面的回应，策划不同主题的新闻通讯，主持轻松幽默的个人播客，还召集影响力人士聚餐。你可以看出他们是发自真心地热爱应用程序，并因此吸引了另一批应用程序的爱好者。

    Product Hunt的发展也在Hacker News上引起了关注。Hacker News上一个公布Product Hunt上线消息的帖子里，评论者们对其网站设计进行了抨击。在公司在加入Y Combinator时，Hacker News上被顶到首位的评论质问道：“Product Hunt竟然也能算得上是一项业务？”并称这一决策为“又一次令人失望的行动”。

    永远保持积极态度的胡佛表示，大家提到的业务问题是“一条有意义的批评”。他承认，Product Hunt只是为科技界和初创界的小规模社区提供服务，这听起来确实不像一个价值百万美元的创意。不仅如此，“（Hacker News的用户）可能把Product Hunt看作是山寨货，”他说，“我们并不是在解决一项清晰明确的需求，类似于‘这能拯救生命’或者‘这能在每个月创收几百万’等等。这自然会引发外界的质疑。”但是他反驳道，包括Facebook和Twitter在内，任何投给面向消费者的科技初创公司的投资，在最初都是比较盲目的。“这是很受情感驱使的决定。”他说。

    他计划进一步拓展Product Hunt，涉足其他数个领域，其中也包括游戏。作为一名消费者和手游平台PlayHaven的产品总监，他对这个行业十分熟悉。至于具体的商业模式，胡佛的设想是，Product Hunt会通过相当直接的广告模式来实现货币化。目前，该网站是通过发布招聘信息获取投机收入的。胡佛表示，他希望Product Hunt到最后能够实现站内推荐产品的交易环节，让人们能在站内直接购买他们在这里找到的数码产品。

    不过胡佛目前还不必为钱的事发愁。他在8月21日公开宣布，Product Hunt已经募得了100万美元的资金，投资方有A级投资（A-Grade Investments，阿什顿•库彻创立的投资基金）、牛仔风投（Cowboy Ventures）、CrunchFund、谷歌风投（Google Ventures）、格雷洛克发现基金（Greylock Discovery Fund）、慢风投（Slow Ventures）、天使投资公司SV Angel、创业工厂兼风投公司Betaworks、Tradecraft、Vayner RSE和勒德洛风投（Ludlow Ventures），此外还有天使投资方阿卜杜勒•乔杜里、陈春、布伦登•穆里根、杰克•奥尔特曼、纳瓦尔•拉维坎特、尼尔•厄雅和Y Combinator（2014年夏季入驻；总额中包括标准的YC投资额）。该公司还发布了一款iPhone应用，开发方为iOS开发人员戴维•麦金尼，让该网站的功能在移动设备上也能正常使用。

    Product Hunt之美在于一切从简，而这意味着该网站很容易遭到复制。胡佛认为，Product Hunt的真正价值在于他所吸引来的高质量用户社区。在试图打入主流领域的同时继续保持社区的高质量水准，这或许就是他所面对的最大挑战。他相信Product Hunt能够打入应用爱好者的市场，这些爱好者并不把自己视作早期采用者（译注：指具有冒险精神、喜欢尝试新产品的人），但不管怎样他们的确就是。鉴于智能手机如今已是如此无处不在，“所谓的早期采用者已经越来越少了，”他说道。（财富中文网）

    The infectious positive attitude of Hoover and his nine-person team comes through on the site and in its community. They chime in frequently with positive feedback, curate themed newsletters, host personal, jokey podcasts, and gather influencers together for brunch events. You can tell they genuinely love apps, and in turn, they’ve attracted a community of app-lovers.

    Product Hunt hasn’t gone without notice on Hacker News. A post on Hacker News announcing the site was met with criticism of its design. When the company joined Y Combinator, the top comment on Hacker News asked, “How is Product Hunt even a business?” calling the decision “another disappointing move.”

    Ever positive, Hoover says the business question is “a valid piece of criticism.” He acknowledges that a business catering to the small tech and startup community doesn’t seem like a billion-dollar idea. Further, “[Hacker News members] might see Product Hunt as a copycat,” he says. “We’re not solving a clear, obvious need, like ‘This saves lives,’ or, ‘This has X million in revenue per month.’ Obviously there is skepticism.” But he counters that any investment in a consumer-facing tech startup, including Facebook and Twitter, is less obvious in the beginning. “It’s very much based on emotions,” he says.

    He has plans to expand Product Hunt into other categories, including gaming, an industry he’s familiar with as a consumer and as director of product at PlayHaven. As for the business model, Hoover imagines Product Hunt will monetize with a fairly straightforward advertising model. Today the site makes opportunistic revenue through job postings. Eventually, Hoover says he’d like to see Product Hunt own the transaction part of its recommendations, allowing people to directly buy the digital products they find on the site.

    But Hoover doesn’t have to worry about money just yet. Today, he will reveal that Product Hunt has raised $1 million in venture funding from A-Grade Investments (the investment fund of Ashton Kutcher), Cowboy Ventures, CrunchFund, Google Ventures, Greylock Discovery Fund, Slow Ventures, SV Angel, betaworks, Tradecraft, Vayner RSE, and Ludlow Ventures as well as angel investors Abdur Chowdhury, Andrew Chen, Brenden Mulligan, Jack Altman, Naval Ravikant, NirEyal and Y Combinator (summer 2014 batch; its sum includes the standard YC investment.) The company also announced an iPhone app, built by iOS developer David McKinney, which adapts the site’s functions for mobile devices.

    Product Hunt’s beauty is in its simplicity, which means the site can easily be copied. Hoover believes its real value is in the high-quality community he’s attracted. Keeping the community’s quality high as he attempts to break into the mainstream may be his greatest challenge. He believes Product Hunt can tap into a market of app-lovers who don’t consider themselves early adopters but are anyway. Given how pervasive smartphones are today, “the early adopter thing is shrinking,” he says.