Playbook
Where to submit your startup in 2026
A practical submission plan: slow queues first, Monday weeks next, then extra days on boards like Aura++ or Hunt0 — prepared once so the forms take hours instead of weeks.
12 min read · Updated 2026-09-03
What to prepare
- Launch asset kit completed (tagline, unique 300-word, gallery)
- Calendar with BetaList queue and next Monday marked
Resources
- Uneed — submit / queue
Daily board. Free queue can take weeks. Unique copy.
- BetaList — submit
Pre-launch board. File the week the waitlist exists.
- Peerlist Launchpad
Weekly Monday launch. Complete the profile first.
- Launching Next
Pre-launch board. Same-week batch as BetaList.
- Asset kit guide
Files to prepare once.
Prepare the kit once
Every serious launch board asks for the same objects: a one-line tagline, a 300-word unique description, a long description, a logo, 3–5 screenshots, categories, and a founder comment. Write them in a single note. If you invent new copy in each form, you will stall on form twelve and the listings will contradict each other.
The tagline should name the user and the job. 'AI-powered platform for modern teams' is how you disappear. 'Turns Zoom recordings into a searchable spec for product teams' is how a hunter knows whether to click.
Wave 1 — slow queues (week 0)
File Uneed and BetaList the day the landing page is real. Their free queues are measured in weeks. Add Launching Next and Launching Pad in the same sitting. This wave is not for dopamine. It is for dates that will otherwise land after your public launch.
- Uneed (daily board queue)
- BetaList (pre-launch feature queue)
- Launching Next and Launching Pad
Wave 2 — weekly rooms (first available Monday)
Peerlist Launchpad, Smol Launch, and DevHunt (if you sell to developers) run on weekly calendars. Miss Monday and you wait. Complete the Peerlist profile before you submit or the launch looks empty. Smol Launch caps free slots — be early. AI products can add EarlyHunt or IndieHunt the same week.
Wave 3 — dwell boards and extra days
MicroLaunch gives you a month on a small board. Hunt0, Aura++, Fazier, TinyLaunch, Tiny Startups, and SoloPush are optional extra daily-style events. Use them if the asset kit is already done. Do not custom-build a campaign around each clone.
Wave 4 — the hard room
Product Hunt is the room that can still change a week. It also punishes improvisation. Launch it after the story has been tested on smaller boards, never on the same morning as another all-day hunt, and only if you can sit in comments.
What to skip
Skip comparison directories, review sites, and forums — they are not launch platforms. Skip dead boards, anything that demands an exclusive, and any service that sells you 400 submissions. A short list of live launch boards with unique copy will beat a spray of identical blurbs.
Submit URLs and what each form actually wants
Confirm the live submit URL before you pick a date. Queues move. The list below is the job each form is for, not a dump of every clone.
- Uneed — daily hunt. Unique 300-word copy. Free queue can take weeks.
- BetaList — upcoming. File when the waitlist exists. Unique copy vs Launching Next.
- Launching Next / Launching Pad — same-week pre-launch batch as BetaList.
- Peerlist Launchpad — complete the profile 48 hours before Monday.
- DevHunt — GitHub login, developer tools only, weekly.
- EarlyHunt / IndieHunt — Monday AI weeks; pick one, not both as the main event.
- Aura++ — extra daily slot after the kit exists; check whether the dofollow wants a badge.