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Iris
Iris

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I Led AFFiNE from 0 to 60k GitHub Stars — Here Are My Open Source Growth Playbooks

As the former cofounder & COO of AFFiNE, I spent 3 years figuring out how to grow an open source product globally. We achieved:

  • 🚀 60,000+ GitHub stars
  • 🏆 30x Product Hunt #1 Daily
  • 🌍 Users in 200+ countries
  • 💰 $10M+ in funding

After leaving AFFiNE in 2024, I decided to open source everything I learned. No paywalls, no courses to sell — just free, battle-tested playbooks.

The Playbooks

1. 🚀 AI Product Launch Playbook

Everything you need to launch a product globally:

  • Product Hunt SOPs — The exact process that got us 30x #1 rankings
  • KOL Outreach Templates — How to get influencers to talk about you
  • Reddit & HackerNews Strategies — Community marketing that actually works
  • UGC Growth Tactics — Scaling through user-generated content

2. 💼 B2B SaaS Growth Playbook

From PMF to ecosystem growth:

  • PMF Validation Framework — How to know you've found product-market fit
  • PLG vs SLG Strategies — When to use which approach
  • Real Case Studies — HeyGen, Deel, Vercel, Supabase breakdowns
  • Affiliate & Channel Partnerships — Building a growth ecosystem

3. 🌟 Open Source Launch Marketing

GitHub-specific growth strategies:

  • Star Growth Tactics — Ethical ways to grow your star count
  • Developer Community Building — Creating engaged contributors
  • HackerNews Launch Guide — Timing and positioning for HN
  • Community Distribution Channels — Where to share your OSS project

4. 📱 ASO & App Cold Start

Mobile app growth strategies:

  • App Store Optimization — Keywords, screenshots, descriptions
  • UGC Creator Operations — Building a creator network
  • Multi-Platform Content Strategy — TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts
  • AI Matrix Accounts — Scaling content with AI

Why I'm Sharing This

When I started, I couldn't find practical, actionable guides for global product launches. Everything was either too theoretical or locked behind expensive courses.

These playbooks are what I wish I had when I started. They're messy, opinionated, and based on real failures and successes.

How to Use Them

  1. Star the repos if you find them useful (helps others discover them)
  2. Pick one playbook that matches your current challenge
  3. Adapt, don't copy — every product is different
  4. Contribute back — PRs and issues welcome!

Let's Connect

I do consulting for startups going global. If you're working on something interesting:


What's your biggest challenge with product launches or growth? Drop a comment — I read everything and try to help where I can.


All playbooks are MIT licensed. Use them however you want.

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