Ryan Hoover on Growth Flywheels, Building Communities, Helping Founders, LP Investing
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Ryan Hoover is the Founder of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund.
Ryan’s probably helped more founders launch their products than anyone else on Earth. We talk about starting Product Hunt as an email list, and he open sources the growth flywheel that propelled it to one of the most important places in technology.
Ryan unpacks how he built and scaled a community around the product, how online communities have changed over time, how we’re thinking about software in the age of AI (tech will change, human behavior won’t), and how status has changed in Silicon Valley.
We also talk about starting Weekend Fund to invest in other founders, his first 400x investment, investing in consumer health, and why he started investing in other funds.
Thanks to Ramp for supporting this episode. It's the corporate card and expense management platform used by over 40,000 companies, like Shopify, CBRE and Stripe. Time is money. Save both with Ramp. Get $250 signing-up here.
Timestamps:
(5:52) Helping founders with software
(15:36) Early ideas for Product Hunt in 2013
(19:14) Starting as a social email list
(26:26) Product Hunt’s growth flywheel
(31:15) AI won’t change human behavior
(34:12) An audience is not a community
(36:42) Why every community needs utility
(38:52) Communities have shifted towards group chats
(40:10) How AI changes building products
(49:35) Importance of craft
(52:30) Starting Weekend Fund, Ryan’s 400x investment
(56:57) Weekend Fund’s software experiments
(59:26) What makes Ryan’s investing unique
(1:02:16) Why Ryan has a small fund
(1:07:41) Peptides, GLP-1’s, Ketamine
(1:18:57) Investing in funds
(1:20:53) Ways LPs can add value for GPs
(1:23:05) How status has changed in Silicon Valley
(1:31:37) Backing founders with secrets, why failing is hard
Referenced
Weekend Fund
Product Hunt
Wayve self-driving cars
The community trap
Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products
Get Your Wish - Porter Robinson
Social Utilities
Silicon Valley’s new status symbols
Selfish Investing
Follow Ryan
Twitter
LinkedIn
Personal Website
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Follow Turner
Twitter
LinkedIn
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All Star Investor Panel! Sophia Amoruso and Ryan Hoover | E2158
Today’s show:
It’s another All Star Investor Panel! Jason and Alex welcome TrustFund VC founder Sophia Amoruso AND WeekendFund investor/Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover.Together they’re going DEEP on the current environment for startups, founders, and investors. How do tell durable from brittle revenue… Everyone’s different approaches to follow-on investments and recycling… Strategies on when to trim a position… The benefits of hosting co-working events and jam sessions… And LOTS LOTS more!
It’s an essential watch for anyone building or investing in companies in 2025!
Timestamps:
(0:00) Introducing our amazing investor panel!
(03:15) The panel shares their First Fund experiences
(10:03) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
(11:27) Show cont…
(12:46) Where we’re at on the investor Greed-Fear Index
(13:54) The delicate art of investor discipline
(20:47) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(21:59) Sophia’s criteria for a follow-on investment
(24:17) Founders are going direct on social media
(29:35) Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist.
(30:49) Show cont…
(32:33) Why we’re seeing so many more Series Bs
(33:30) So when do you trim a position?
(39:35) There are SO MANY COMPANIES! Why surface area matters.
(43:25) Durable vs. brittle revenue and how to tell them apart
(46:15) When it’s time to angel invest outside your fund
(49:04) The panel’s approaches to capital recycling
(57:15) The benefits of co-working “jam sessions”
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Thank you to our partners:
(10:03) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
(20:47) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(29:35) Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist.
DISCLAIMER
*All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC.Alpha is an experimental AI tool powered by GPT-4. Its output may be inaccurate and is not investment advice. Public makes no guarantees about its accuracy or reliability—verify independently before use.Rate as of 7/18/25. APY is variable and subject to change.
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How to launch and grow your product | Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund
Thousands of new products launch each year, but very few make it. Ryan Hoover has seen thousands of products launched over the course of his time running Product Hunt, and through his investing, and in this episode you’ll hear what Ryan has learned about launching products, growing products, and raising capital. Plus, we play a made up game called “What would you rather upvote?” Join us.
—
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:
• RevenueCat: https://www.revenuecat.com/
• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny
• Lenny’s Giveaway Bonanza: https://lennyspodcast.com/bonanza
—
Where to find Ryan Hoover:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rrhoover
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrhoover/
• Website: https://www.ryanhoover.me/
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
In this episode, we cover:
[03:23] On being a tech celebrity
[09:02] Using Twitter DM’s as a content machine
[11:15] The questions most founders ask
[14:48] When should you start a company?
[18:28] Would Ryan raise money for Product Hunt if he could do it again?
[21:48] When should companies launch products?
[24:52] What makes a launch successful versus not?
[26:27] How to get to the top of Product Hunt
[30:01] What skill is most helpful for moving into investing and venture capital?
[31:39] What Ryan would do differently if he could re-build Product Hunt
[38:57] What matters most in life
[43:13] Which ideas Ryan would upvote
[48:05] What founders of consumer companies do to succeed
[55:33] Deciding to serve a niche or broad market
[58:03] The surprising parts of angel investing
[1:02:12] Advice for folks wanting to get into angel investing
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
MFM x Trends - Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt Breaks Down the Biggest Opportunities He Sees
In today's episode Sam Parr (@theSamParr) interviews Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover). Ryan has seen thousands of companies launch since founding Product Hunt in 2014. He shares dozens of places that he sees opportunities, including several of his own investments. Listen to the rest of the episode at http://trends.co/.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
#4 - How Product Hunt's Ryan Hoover Built A $20M Community From Scratch
Who knew a product about other products could be worth tens of millions... Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) tells us the struggle of trying to find a place in the startup world and how to tackle job rejection the right way - becoming his own boss! Truly starting from scratch, he runs us through the scrappy early days of e-mailing people one by one just to gain an extra dozen users... now that's some hustle! Tune into this episode and he'll teach you ways to push that little bit further to making your first million.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
S7:E8 - How do you build a great product? (Ryan Hoover)
Ryan took his love of products and created Product Hunt, a place to share and discover new products, which sold to Angel List for a rumored $20M. Ryan shares what makes a great product, what he looks for in products as an investor, and how you can get started in product management.
Show Links
Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor)
Dreamweaver
Product Hunt
Codeland 2019
Ryan Hoover
Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt, the place to discover the latest in tech. He is also an investor in early stage startups, investing out of a fund he started in 2013 called Weekend Fund.
#067 – Creating a Massive Community and Making It Profitable with Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt
Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) has always been a product person. In a few short years, Ryan built an audience of tech enthusiasts from scratch and grew it into the massive and impactful community known as Product Hunt. Today, he's working to bring Product Hunt to profitability after selling the company to AngelList. We also talk a bit about the maker and entrepreneur communities in general, and the similarities and differences between Product Hunt and Indie Hackers.
Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/067-ryan-hoover-of-product-hunt
20 VC FF 026: Ryan Hoover, Founder @ ProductHunt on Relationship Building, Habit Forming and The Vision for ProductHunt
Ryan Hoover is the Founder and CEO @ ProductHunt, winner of TechCrunch "Best New Startup 2014". ProductHunt is a community of people sharing, upvoting, and geeking out about new technology products, games, and books. Before Product Hunt, Ryan was an EIR at Tradecraft and Director of Product at PlayHaven. As a writer, Ryan has contributed to Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal and written many essays, including features for TechCrunch, Forbes, Pando, Fast Company, and The Next Web. He writes about startup trends, product designs, and production growth on his blog, ryanhoover.me.
I would like to thank Mattermark for providing all the data and analysis for this interview and you can check them out here!
CLICK TO PLAY
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did ProductHunt get started and what was the a-ha moment for Ryan in the founding of ProductHunt?
2.) PH has gone from a newsletter to friends to a a16z backed startup with employees around the globe. What have been the drivers of PH's success?
3.) PH harness the crowd for feedback on everything from designs to features. Why does Ryan prefer this open sourced feedback approach? What are the benefits? What would Ryan suggest to founders looking to adopt a similar feedback style?
4.) Question from Matt Hartman at Betaworks: Considering Ryan's work with Nir Eyal on Hooked, are there elements of Hooked that Ryan baked into the infrastructure of PH and what were they?
5.) How has Ryan created such a close and intimate relationship with his audience? What are the tools and strategies that Ryan uses to build that community? What advice does Ryan give for people looking to network and make a community around them?
6.) Where does Ryan see PH in 5 years time? What is his vision for the PH platform? How does a platform such as ProductHunt plan to monetise?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Ryan's Fave Book: The Art of Game Design: A Book Of Lenses
Ryan's Fave Podcasts: TWIST by Jason Calacanis, Startup: Gimlet Media, Mystery Show: Gimlet Media
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ryan on Twitter here!
If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!
a16z Podcast: A Podcast about Podcasts
Podcasts and podcasting have been around a while, but seem to be going through a renaissance of sorts -- partly enabled by connected cars and other technologies. But how do we discover podcasts; is the ideal atomic unit the show, or an individual episode/topic? What makes a good podcast? And given their intimacy, how can brands and communities engage with podcasts?
We discuss this and more in this oh-so-meta episode of the a16z Podcast-about-podcasts. And to help us do that, we invited longtime podcaster and radio host Roman Mars -- of the highly regarded design show 99% Invisible -- as well as fans (and now curators of) podcasts, Ryan Hoover and Erik Torenberg of Product Hunt. [Along with, of course, your a16z Podcast producers and hosts Sonal Chokshi and Michael Copeland.]
The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.
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