7.2 KiB
7.2 KiB
FRE-632: HN Karma Building Plan (If Needed)
Trigger: No qualified HN account exists (karma <50 or account <30 days old)
Owner: CMO
Timeline: 7-14 days to reach 100+ karma
Status: ⏳ On standby (awaiting founder response)
Overview
If no team member has a qualified HN account (100+ karma, 30+ days old), we need to build karma before submitting Show HN. This plan ensures we're ready within 7-14 days.
HN Karma Basics
How Karma Works:
- Upvotes on your submissions: +1 per upvote
- Upvotes on your comments: +1 per upvote
- Downvotes: -1 (can go negative)
- No karma for upvoting others
What Gets Upvoted:
- Insightful technical comments
- Relevant article submissions
- Helpful answers to questions
- Authentic participation
What Gets Downvoted:
- Self-promotion (especially early)
- Shallow comments ("Great post!")
- Obvious marketing
- Controversial takes without substance
14-Day Karma Building Plan
Week 1: Foundation (Target: 50+ karma)
Daily Time Commitment: 30-45 minutes
Day 1-2: Profile Setup + First Comments
Actions:
- Create HN account (if none exists)
- Username: Professional (real name or company)
- Email: Personal Gmail (not company domain)
- Profile: Real name, company affiliation, brief bio
- Read HN Guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Browse front page, identify relevant threads
- Comment on 3-5 threads (quality over quantity)
Comment Topics (High Relevance):
- Screenwriting software
- Writing tools
- Tauri (Rust-based desktop apps)
- SolidJS (frontend frameworks)
- SaaS pricing models
- Real-time collaboration tech
- CRDT/operational transformation
- SQLite/edge databases (Turso)
Comment Quality Checklist:
- Adds value to conversation
- Shares specific experience/insight
- Asks thoughtful follow-up questions
- No self-promotion
- 2+ sentences (substantial)
Day 3-5: Consistent Participation
Actions:
- Comment on 5-7 threads/day
- Submit 1-2 relevant articles (not about Scripter)
- Examples: "New Tauri 2.0 features", "SolidJS performance benchmarks"
- Source: Tech blogs, GitHub repos, official docs
- Engage with replies to your comments
- Track karma progress
Article Submission Guidelines:
- Must be genuinely interesting (not promotional)
- Technical content preferred
- Official docs/blog posts work well
- GitHub release pages
Day 6-7: Momentum Building
Actions:
- Continue 5-7 comments/day
- Submit 1-2 more articles
- Review top comments for patterns
- Adjust strategy based on what resonates
Week 1 Target: 50+ karma ✅
Week 2: Acceleration (Target: 100+ karma)
Daily Time Commitment: 45-60 minutes
Day 8-10: Deep Engagement
Actions:
- Comment on 7-10 threads/day
- Focus on threads with high engagement
- Provide detailed technical insights
- Answer questions in your expertise areas
High-Value Comment Types:
- Technical deep-dives: "Here's how CRDTs work in practice..."
- Experience sharing: "We migrated from Firebase to Turso, here's what we learned..."
- Comparative analysis: "SolidJS vs React for our use case..."
- Helpful resources: "For anyone interested, this deep-dive covers..."
Day 11-14: Peak Participation
Actions:
- Maintain 7-10 comments/day
- Submit 1-2 more articles
- Engage in Show HN threads (comment on others' launches)
- Build relationships with active community members
Show HN Engagement Strategy:
- Comment on 3-5 Show HN posts/day
- Provide genuine feedback
- Ask thoughtful questions
- Share relevant experience
- Do NOT mention Scripter yet
Week 2 Target: 100+ karma ✅
Content Calendar
Week 1 Topics
| Day | Comment Topics | Article Submissions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tauri, desktop apps | - |
| 2 | SolidJS, frontend | - |
| 3 | Screenwriting tools | Tauri 2.0 announcement |
| 4 | SaaS, pricing | SolidJS performance blog |
| 5 | CRDT, real-time | - |
| 6 | Writing software | Screenwriting tech article |
| 7 | Edge databases | Turso/SQLite post |
Week 2 Topics
| Day | Comment Topics | Article Submissions |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 9 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 10 | Technical deep-dive | GitHub trending project |
| 11 | SaaS growth | Indie hacker success story |
| 12 | Show HN feedback (3 posts) | - |
| 13 | Collaboration tools | Remote work research |
| 14 | Final push | - |
Tracking Progress
Daily Log Template
## Day X - [Date]
**Time Spent:** [minutes]
**Comments Posted:** [count]
**Articles Submitted:** [count]
**Karma Gained:** [+X]
**Current Karma:** [total]
**Top Comments:**
1. [Thread title] - [brief description, karma if visible]
2. [Thread title] - [brief description]
**Learnings:**
- What worked:
- What didn't:
**Tomorrow's Focus:**
- [ ] [specific goal]
Progress Milestones
| Day | Target Karma | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5-10 | ⏳ |
| 3 | 20-30 | ⏳ |
| 5 | 40-50 | ⏳ |
| 7 | 50-60 | ⏳ |
| 10 | 80-90 | ⏳ |
| 14 | 100+ | ⏳ |
Risk Mitigation
Risk: Slow Karma Growth (<5/day)
Causes:
- Comments not resonating
- Wrong topics
- Low visibility timing
Solutions:
- Shift to more popular threads (front page)
- Comment earlier in thread lifecycle
- Focus on technical depth over breadth
- Ask for feedback from experienced HN users
Risk: Negative Karma (Downvotes)
Causes:
- Perceived self-promotion
- Controversial takes
- Low-effort comments
Solutions:
- Review downvoted comments for patterns
- Avoid any mention of Scripter until 100+ karma
- Focus on helping, not promoting
- Apologize if you misstep ("Fair point, I misunderstood")
Risk: Time Constraints
Causes:
- Competing priorities
- Underestimating time needed
Solutions:
- Block 45 min daily on calendar
- Batch comment writing (20 min sessions)
- Use HN mobile app for quick engagement
- Delegate to another team member if needed
Success Criteria
Ready for Show HN Submission When:
- Karma: 100+ (minimum 50)
- Account age: 14+ days (30+ preferred)
- Comment history: 30+ quality comments
- Article submissions: 5-10 relevant posts
- Profile: Complete with real info
- No recent downvote streaks
Submission Checklist:
- Karma target met
- Account age acceptable
- Profile complete
- No promotional history (clean record)
- Show HN post draft ready
- Technical review complete with FE
Resources
HN Guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
HN Search: https://hn.algolia.com/ (find relevant threads)
Karma Tracker: Check profile page daily
Best Times to Post: 10 AM - 2 PM PT (highest traffic)
Trigger Decision
If founder response = "No qualified account":
- Start Day 1 immediately
- Target: 100+ karma by June 10-14
- Adjust HN submission date to June 14
If founder response = "Qualified account exists":
- Archive this plan
- Proceed with June 7 submission (with Product Hunt)
Status: ⏳ On standby awaiting founder response
Next: Execute Day 1 if no qualified account exists