Come out of the gate like a champ! Whether your team is big or small, use these tips we've learned from launching countless community and platform hubs.
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Have at least six projects ready at launch and do them right. These will become reference points and set the tone for your community.
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Use a nice camera and find a good spot to take high-res photos with lots of light for each step during the process.
Include code, schematics, components, CAD files, and detailed descriptions.
Demonstrate how to connect your technology with other popular platforms.
Tell a story! Take a fun and cool approach.
Finally, create a range of projects to engage beginners and experts so there's something for everyone visiting your hub.
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Here are two awesome examples by team insiders:
​https://microsoft.hackster.io/windowsiot/robot-kit-6dd474
​https://www.hackster.io/zsup/open-source-nest-alike-learning-thermostat-f67b82

Launch with at least 10 followers, preferably more. These can come from your team members, friends on Hackster and makers who have already been working with your platform. The UDOO team isn't gigantic, but they've made a huge splash on Hackster by posting their own projects and engaging with interested makers. Now, they're one of our leading platforms, sharing space with Arduino and Intel.
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We love to share what our platforms are up to and it works best when we collaborate. When you're ready to announce your new hub to your network, let us know your plans so that we can share them with our network on the same day – via email, a blog post, and/or social media. Celebrate it!
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Arduino and Microsoft hit the mother lode when they teamed up for their "World's Largest Arduino Maker Challenge," accumulating nearly 1,700 project ideas from 4,600 participants.
Contests require a fair amount of preparation and maintenance but the payoff is huge in terms of adoption.
It can be a bit more challenging to get submissions for hardware platforms, so take advantage of our experience to make yours a success!
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​POWER PLAY
​Project galleries on Hackster can land massive page views in 30 days if done right – but when they're integrated into your website, we see up to 10x more engagement. Embed your hub as a link in your nav bar, and you'll be well on your way.
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Once your hub reaches 10 projects and 25 followers, we consider that self-sustaining. Let us know, and we'll add it to our Platforms page so your hub is listed in the selection.
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From here, we've put together some pointers on how to best utilize the system: