How it works
From submission to discoverable in about 10 minutes
Founder.best is a weekly launch platform for founders. Submit your product, pick a launch week, and get a permanent product page that people - and the AI assistants they ask - keep finding long after launch day. Here is exactly what happens, step by step.
- 362+ products launched
- 518+ founders
- Submit in about 10 minutes
- Paid launches go live instantly
- Product page and backlink stay forever
- Full refund within 24h if not yet live
The flow · Six steps
What happens between submit and discovered
Every step below is a real screen on the platform. Nothing here needs a launch-day miracle - it is a weekly cycle you can plan around.
- 1Step 1 · About 10 minutes
Submit your product
Paste your website URL and hit Fetch with AI - we read the site and pre-fill your name, tagline, and description. Add a logo (we fall back to your favicon), up to five screenshots, and up to three categories. The classification step tags what you built so people browsing by use case - and the AI assistants they ask - can find it.
- Start without an account; sign in when you want to save progress.
- Your first screenshot becomes the hero image on your product page.
- Categories and classification feed the browse pages and AI discovery.
founder.best/submit
- 2Step 2 · Weeks run Monday to Sunday
Pick a launch week and a plan
Choose any launch week up to 13 weeks out. Standard ($9) and Pro ($19) go live the moment you pay - no queue and no review wait. Free Launch ($0) opens from week 4 onward with 15 slots per week: add our badge to your site, submit for review, and we approve it before launch day.
- Free - basic listing after admin review.
- Standard - 14 days, live instantly, newsletter inclusion.
- Pro and Pro+ - a full month, 10–20 starter upvotes, top-bar spotlight.
- 3Step 3 · Launch day
Go live on the Launchpad
On launch day your product appears in Live launches on the homepage, ranked by upvotes from the founder community. In the same hour it is listed in its category and use-case pages, the weekly launch archive, and the community Feed - so discovery starts from several doors at once, not just the homepage.
- Ranked by upvotes earned during your launch window.
- Pro and Pro+ launches also get the featured strip and top-bar spotlight.
- Paid launches are included in the weekly founder newsletter.
founder.best
- 4Step 4 · Your launch week
Rally upvotes and win the week
Share your product URL with your users, newsletter, and socials - every product page has one-click share to X, LinkedIn, and Reddit. The three products with the most launch-week upvotes take #1, #2, and #3, earn winner badges, get a spot in the newsletter, and stay in the Winners archive for good.
- Winners are decided by launch-week upvotes only - a fair shot for solo founders.
- Trophy and inline winner badges you can embed on your site or README.
- Comments and reviews on your page turn into lasting social proof.
founder.best/winners
- 5Step 5 · Forever
Keep the page working after launch
Your homepage window ends; your product page does not. It stays indexed at founder.best/products/your-slug with a dofollow link to your site on paid plans, SoftwareApplication structured data for search engines and AI assistants, and a "Featured on Founder.best" badge you can drop into your footer or README to send visitors back to upvote.
- Dofollow backlink on paid plans (nofollow on Free Launch).
- Badge SVGs update with your live upvote count - nothing to swap later.
- Post product updates when you ship - fresh content brings crawlers back.
founder.best/products/your-slug
- 6Step 6 · Ongoing
Grow beyond a single launch
Claim founder.best/yourname, link your socials, and every product you launch stacks on one profile. Post in the Feed, publish a founder story, climb the founder leaderboard - then relaunch the next version from your dashboard when you are ready. Pro+ subscribers get +10 upvotes and a homepage re-feature every renewal.
- Founder Profile from $3.99/mo with a vanity URL and social links.
- Verified revenue badge via TrustMRR - free on every plan.
- Relaunch anytime: new week, new plan, same permanent page.
founder.best/yourname
Reach · Distribution
Where your product shows up
One submission feeds every surface below. That is the difference between a launch-day spike and discovery that compounds.
Homepage Launchpad
The Live launches list, ranked by upvotes, for one week to one month depending on your plan.
OpenCategory and use-case pages
SaaS, AI, developer tools and ten curated use cases - long-tail pages that keep sending traffic.
OpenWeekly founder newsletter
Winners, breakout launches, and every paid launch, emailed to founders once a week.
OpenWinners and launch archive
Top three each week, archived permanently at /winners and in the weekly launch pages.
OpenAI assistants and agents
Structured data, llms.txt, a public API and an MCP server let ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and autonomous agents find and cite your listing.
OpenFounder profile and Feed
Your products on founder.best/yourname, plus your posts and updates in the community Feed.
Open
Discovery · People and AI
Be discoverable to people and AI
Search engines still matter, but a growing share of founders ask an assistant first. Your listing is built to be read by both.
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Gemini
What assistants read
Your listing is written for people, and structured for machines
Most launch sites hide products behind scripts and paywalled feeds. Founder.best publishes every approved product as clean, crawlable HTML with the signals answer engines look for - and as JSON that AI agents can query directly.
SoftwareApplication structured data
Name, tagline, category, use cases, audiences, pricing, ratings, and founder on every product page.
Public API and MCP server
AI agents query the directory directly - search, filter and fetch any product as JSON, no key required.
llms.txt and Markdown mirrors
A machine-readable index plus a Markdown version of every product page, with an AI-ready profile.
Plain-language taxonomy
Categories, use cases, audiences and pricing lenses that map to how people actually ask.
Plans · Pick your visibility
Choose how long you stay on the homepage
Every plan ends with the same permanent product page. You are choosing homepage time, speed to go live, and starter momentum. Most founders start with Standard for $9.
Get listed
Community listingFree Launch
Testing the waters, no budget yet
Basic listing · after admin review
No card required
- Limited free slots per week
- Manual admin review (not instant)
- Community upvotes & comments
- Product page with dofollow backlink from launch week
- Category listing
- Instant go-live
- Newsletter feature
- Premium badge
- Google Search Console & Analytics tracking
Launch instantly
Most PopularStandard Launch
Most side projects and first launches
2 weeks live · dofollow backlink
One payment. No renewals.
- Live on homepage for 2 weeks
- Community upvotes & comments
- Post text updates on your product page
- Product page with dofollow backlink
- Category listing
- Premium badge on homepage & product page
- Embed badge for your website
- Featured in the weekly newsletter
- Eligible for weekly winner (by week's upvotes)
- Goes live instantly - no admin wait
- Google Search Console & Analytics tracking in your dashboard
Get featured
Featured exposureLaunch Pro
Launches that need a real push
1 month live · 10 starter upvotes
One payment. No renewals.
- Everything in Standard Launch
- Live on homepage for 1 month
- Product page with dofollow backlink
- Skip the queue - launch today or any date
- 10 starter upvotes on your launch
- Premium badge on homepage & product page
- Premium-quality embed badges
- Post text updates on your product page
- Top bar spotlight (your promo line) for 1 month
- Featured in the weekly newsletter
- Showcased between top products
- Tweet from @founderbest
- Google Search Console & Analytics tracking in your dashboard
Keep growing
SubscriptionLaunch Pro+
One product you keep growing
Re-featured monthly · +10 upvotes/renewal
Cancel anytime
- One product on Launch Pro+
- Live on homepage for 1 month
- 20 starter upvotes on first launch
- 10 bonus upvotes each billing renewal
- Re-featured on homepage every renewal
- Post product updates with images
- Top bar spotlight (your promo line) for 1 month
- Product page with dofollow backlink
- Featured in the weekly newsletter
- Premium badge & premium-quality embed badges
- Tweet from @founderbest
- Google Search Console & Analytics tracking in your dashboard
- Cancel anytime
Playbook · Win the week
What the launches that win actually do
You do not need a big audience. You need a plan for the seven days your product is live. This is the pattern we see behind most #1 finishes.
- 1
Prepare assets before launch day
A 200×200 logo, five crisp screenshots, an 80-character tagline, and a description that says who it is for.
- 2
Launch on Monday, share on Monday
Weeks run Monday to Sunday. Announcing on day one gives you seven full days to collect upvotes.
- 3
Send your people to the product page
Link founder.best/products/your-slug in your newsletter, changelog, and socials - upvoting takes one click.
- 4
Embed the badge on your site
Footer or README. It links back to your launch, shows a live upvote count, and adds a second backlink.
- 5
Post an update mid-week
Shipped a fix or a feature? Post it. Updates show on your page and in the Feed, and re-enter discovery.
- 6
Reply to every comment
Founders upvote founders who show up. Answer questions on your page and on other launches too.
Every product gets light, dark, wide, and text-only badges with copy-paste HTML and Markdown. The SVG updates with your live upvote count, so a footer badge keeps sending visitors to your launch page for months.
Get the free launch checklistYour next launch week starts Monday
Ten minutes to submit, one week to rally, and a product page that keeps working after everyone else has moved on. Join 518+ founders who launched here.
Not ready to pay? Apply for a free launch (from week 4, after review).
Resources · Prepare and go deeper
Free tools and guides for your launch
Everything on this page is free to use. Get your assets ready, then read the long-form guides on where to launch and how to keep the traffic compounding.
Prepare your launch
Free tools for the week before you submit.
- Free startup launch checklist30+ tasks across pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch.
- SaaS launch checklist 2026SaaS launch checklist for 2026: pre-launch validation, launch week platforms, SEO backlinks, and post-launch…
- Startup name generator30 brandable, spellable startup names from one keyword.
- Startup tagline generator12 tight one-liners for your landing page and launch post.
- Product slug checkerSee if your founder.best/products/ URL is still free.
- Free tools for foundersName generator, tagline writer, slug checker, DR checker, launch checklist.
Go deeper
Guides, directories, docs, and the community.
- What is Founder.bestWhat is Founder.best in 2026? Weekly rankings, dofollow SEO, founder profiles, TrustMRR revenue, free and…
- Indie launch guideLaunch guide for indie founders and bootstrapped makers in 2026. Build in public, pick platforms, earn…
- Where to launchWhere to launch your SaaS or startup in 2026: 15 platforms ranked by SEO, cost, and fit. Product Hunt,…
- Product Hunt alternatives12 Product Hunt alternatives: launch boards, communities, and directories for indie founders. Honest…
- Free SaaS directories for backlinksList of free SaaS and startup directories with dofollow filters, Ahrefs DR scores, and a submission checklist.
- Get your product discovered by AI assistantsWhich listing fields make your product rank for the right questions.
- Founder.best blogSaaS launch playbooks, SEO guides, and platform comparisons.
- Founder storiesReal startup journeys, lessons, and wins from indie builders.
- Founder leaderboardTop indie founders ranked by community upvotes.
How long does it take to launch on Founder.best?
About ten minutes once your logo and screenshots are ready. Paste your URL, let Fetch with AI pre-fill the basics, pick a launch week and plan, and pay. Standard and Pro launches go live instantly on your chosen week; Free Launch is reviewed by an admin before launch day.
Is Founder.best free to launch on?
Yes. Free Launch costs $0 and is available from week 4 onward, with 15 slots per week. You add our badge to your website, submit for review, and get a basic listing after approval plus a permanent product page with a nofollow link. Paid plans start at $9.
What is the difference between Standard, Pro, and Pro+?
Standard ($9 one-time) goes live instantly for 14 days with a premium badge, a dofollow backlink, text updates, and newsletter inclusion. Pro ($19 one-time) extends that to a month and adds 10 starter upvotes, the top-bar spotlight, and a tweet from @founderbest. Pro+ ($9/month) covers one featured product with image updates, 20 starter upvotes, and +10 upvotes plus a homepage re-feature every renewal.
How are weekly winners chosen?
By upvotes received during the product's launch week only. The top three products become #1, #2, and #3, get winner badges and a newsletter mention, and stay in the Winners archive permanently. Starter upvotes from Pro plans count toward the total.
Do I get a backlink?
Every approved product gets a permanent page at founder.best/products/your-slug. Paid launches include a dofollow link to your website; Free Launch listings use a nofollow link. The embeddable badge on your own site links back to your launch page as well.
How does AI discovery work?
Product pages ship SoftwareApplication structured data, plain-language descriptions, use cases, audiences and category tags. The site publishes an llms.txt, a Markdown mirror of every page, a free public JSON API and an MCP server, so assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini - and autonomous agents built on them - can search the directory directly. That makes your listing citable when someone asks for tools in your space; we cannot promise any specific model will cite it, but we make it as easy as possible. Details at founder.best/docs.
Can I launch more than one product, or relaunch?
Yes. Every launch is independent - submit a new product or relaunch an existing one from your dashboard by picking a new week and plan. Pro+ is a subscription for one featured product and re-features it on the homepage every billing cycle.
What if I change my mind after paying?
If your launch has not gone live yet, contact us within 24 hours of purchase for a full refund. Once a launch is live, payments are non-refundable. Subscriptions (Pro+, Sponsored Spot, Founder Profile) can be cancelled anytime.