Article · 5 min read

Hacker News Guidelines

Y Combinator Free Beginner

HN's own posting guidelines tell you plainly what a technical, skeptical audience wants from a launch post: no editorializing, no hype words, no asking for upvotes, just a clear and honest description of what you made. Reading this before a Show HN saves you from the most common way founders get torn apart in the comments, and it doubles as a good gut check for any launch copy at all.

• Cut hype words, uppercase, and exclamation points from your title and post.
• Write to a builder audience as a peer, not as a marketer pitching from a stage.
• Be ready to answer honestly in the comments, that is the real audience test.