How to Get More Founders to Submit to Your Website

Why It’s Hard to Get Founders to Submit to Your Directory

Starting and running a startup is time-consuming. For founders, every minute counts. With product building, fundraising, and customer acquisition at the forefront, submitting to directories often gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. If you’re a directory owner, you’ve likely experienced this firsthand — low submission rates, inconsistent interest, and the constant challenge of finding relevant, high-quality startups to add to your site.

But what if there were a smarter way to reverse the trend?

Attracting more founders to submit to your website doesn’t need to feel like pulling teeth. With the right strategies — including automation, personalization, and timely outreach — you can generate a steady stream of founder submissions and grow your directory with minimal manual effort. In this blog post, we’ll explore actionable steps to help you achieve just that.

1. Leverage Automated Outreach That Scales

Timing Is Everything

Most successful directory owners know that the best time to reach a founder is shortly after they launch. This is when they’re searching for visibility, backlinks, social proof, and distribution. That’s why tools like Nurturing Mails are a game changer.

NurturingMail automatically reaches out to founders right after their Product Hunt launch. It sends personalized, congratulatory emails — not hard pitches — to build instant rapport. This is crucial because traditional cold email fails when it’s generic or misaligned with a founder’s current priorities.

Why Automated Outreach Works

• It’s timely: Founders receive your message when they’re actively seeking exposure.
• It’s personalized: Emails include the founder’s name, product details, and a relevant call-to-action.
• It’s stress-free: No need to manage tools or templates manually. You simply set it and forget it.

Want to see how this works in real-time? You can get started here and grow your submissions within 30 days.

2. Create Irresistible Value Propositions

Founders Don’t Just Want Visibility — They Need ROI

Ask yourself: why would a bootstrapped founder spend time listing on your site? What do they gain? If your pitch is simply “get featured,” you’re not standing out. Show how your directory adds real value. Consider these high-impact value propositions:

• Search engine benefits: Submissions include do-follow backlinks.
• Audience alignment: You cater to a niche that matches their target user base.
• Founder-friendly features: You allow founders to edit or update listings any time.
• Social boosts: You include founder submissions in email newsletters or tweet shoutouts.

Example from Other Directories

Sites like UNO Directory and Aura++ stand out because they focus on user experience and community connection. UNO showcases clean design with strong categorization, while Aura++ highlights founder stories alongside product features, appealing to early-stage entrepreneurs.

3. Make It Dead Simple to Submit

Complex submission processes are submission killers. If your form takes more than two minutes or requires creating an account, you’re losing interested founders.

Best Practices for Your Submission Flow

1. Avoid unnecessary fields — name, product URL, brief description, and logo should be enough.
2. Allow submissions via LinkedIn or Google OAuth for faster access.
3. Provide a live preview of how the submission will appear.
4. Enable autosave — no one wants to lose their data and restart.
5. Include social proof: Display how many daily or monthly visits your directory receives.

Bonus tip: Offer a quick reference guide or FAQ that outlines the process. Reduce friction at every step.

4. Use Email Campaign Sequences Strategically

Don’t Rely on One Touchpoint

One email is rarely enough. Build a warm sequence that educates, adds value, and reminds founders of why it’s beneficial to submit. Here’s an example of a simple 3-email follow-up structure you can adapt:

Email #	Timing	Purpose
1	Day 0 (launch day)	Congratulate the founder on their launch and offer the directory as a visibility opportunity.
2	Day 3	Share statistics or testimonials showing how previous submissions benefited traction.
3	Day 7	Give a final nudge along with a link to a one-click submission form. Reinforce social proof.

Use Tools to Build These Sequences

While you can write these emails manually, it’s far more efficient to use automated outreach tools like NurturingMail. It sends emails at 15–20 minute intervals to avoid spam filters and uses templates proven to convert.

5. Build Partnerships with Other Indie Projects

Founders trust other founders. Build connections with fellow indie hackers and niche community owners who can help signal-boost your directory.

Collaborate, Don’t Compete

• Co-promote: Offer a special listing package in their newsletter or community platform.
• Cross-list: Feature their projects on your directory and ask for the same.
• Interview them: Publish founder interviews on your blog like Praneet Brar does. These interviews also improve your SEO.

Your community-focused approach pays off in relationships, referrals, and even organic backlinks.

6. Don’t Ignore Product Hunt Strategy

Product Hunt is where the magic begins. Since over 50 new startups launch daily on PH, it’s an untapped goldmine for directory enrichment.

NurturingMail’s smart Product Hunt detection engine ensures you’re reaching out right after the product goes live — not days later, when the buzz dies down. If you want to outperform other directories, automate your outreach via NurturingMail and win the race to inboxes.

Key Benefits of Product Hunt-Focused Outreach

• You’re catching founders during their highest excitement and availability phase.
• They’re actively seeking PR, SEO, backlinks, and visibility — your perfect offer.
• You avoid manual monitoring and repetitive cold writing.

7. Optimize Your SEO to Attract Inbound Submissions

While outreach is powerful, don’t ignore organic traffic. A well-optimized directory ranks on Google and brings in daily inbound submissions without effort.

Common SEO Tips for Directories

• Create category pages that target long-tail keywords (e.g., “AI founder tools” or “Best no-code directories”).
• Use schema markup to enhance SERP visibility.
• Link out to credible sources to signal trust (e.g., to sites like Zapier’s startup tool list or resources from Indie Hackers).
• Encourage user-generated content through upvotes, comments, or reviews.

The more useful your content is for both Google and users, the more submissions you’ll get passively over time.

Conclusion

To recap: if you want more founders to submit to your site, approach it as a system — not a guessing game. Use automation tools like NurturingMail to streamline outreach. Personalize your messaging, refine your submission flow, and focus heavily on value. Then, amplify with SEO and community-building