It doesn't, and I'm not saying that it is.

However, the perception of some naive entrepreneurs is that being on Product Hunt is a one-way ticket to success, which is why there are tons of blog posts on Reddit and Medium about success stories: https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/search?q=Product+hunt&rest...

Another trend in those stories is "I had a strong network upvote my product!" which entrepreneurs think is a good thing (the hustle!) and obviously does not matter in the real world.

I think PH is a negative externality on the startup ecosystem.