How to make a SaaS product video, step by step
A step-by-step guide to making a 30-to-60-second product video for a software company: the words, the shots, the timing, the shapes and the embed.
Sep 26, 2026
How to make a product launch video
Product Hunt takes YouTube links only, YC wants a demo, and X and LinkedIn autoplay in the feed. What each channel accepts, and one film that fits them all.
Launch day is the one day a lot of people look at your product at once. Many of them give it a few seconds, on a phone, with the sound off, in the middle of looking at something else. The launch video is the thing most likely to reach all of them, which makes it odd how often it gets made last, the night before, in whatever tool is open.
It’s worth making first, and making once. Every launch channel has its own rules, but they’re compatible. One well-made film, cut into the right shapes, covers Product Hunt, your YC application, Hacker News, X and LinkedIn. Here’s what each one actually accepts, and how to plan the film around them.
Product Hunt
Product Hunt is the strictest about format and the vaguest about everything else.
YouTube only. “For videos, only YouTube links are supported.” Use the full URL, and make sure the video isn’t private. [1]
It goes in the gallery, alongside your images, in the order you arrange them. You need at least two gallery images, and the recommended size is 1270 by 760. [1]
The thumbnail is separate: square, 240 by 240 recommended. GIF thumbnails only animate on hover, so their first frame is what most people see. [2]
No length guidance. Product Hunt doesn’t say how long a launch video should be, or whether it autoplays.
Product Hunt’s launch guide says about 53% of products that reached Product of the Day since 2021 included a video, and in the same sentence says videos aren’t always necessary. [2] That sentence hasn’t changed since at least 2022, and it only shows a correlation among winners. Still, it tells you what the competition on the day looks like.
One detail worth knowing: in the three recent launches we looked at, the link preview that appears when someone shares the launch used the first gallery image, not the video. [3] So your first image travels further than your film does. Make it the frame that says what you do: your headline over your product.
Your YC application
Y Combinator asks for a founder video and, if you have one, a demo, and the two aren’t interchangeable.
The founder video is one minute and “should contain nothing except the founders talking.” YC is blunt about it: “This is not the place to submit a demo or promotional video.” [4] YC partner Dalton Caldwell has complained about applicants putting a product video in that slot. [5]
The demo goes in its own field: “If you have a demo, attach it below.” The 2023 forms described it as “Anything that shows us how the product works” and asked applicants to keep it to three minutes and 100 MB. [6] YC’s advice is to include one even if it’s rough. In Stephanie Simon’s words: “We don’t care if the demo is unpolished,” and “The difference between nothing and something is actually huge to us.” [7]
So for YC, a 30-second film makes a strong opening to the demo. Lead with it, because it says in one breath what you build, which is exactly what YC’s own launch advice asks for: “start with one sentence that tells me what you’re building first.” [8] Then show the product working, for real, in a screen recording.
Hacker News
On Hacker News, a video can’t stand in for the product. “Show HN is for something you’ve made that other people can play with,” and the only video allowance in the guidelines is for hardware. [9] Readers want to try the thing, ideally without signing up. Launch HN, for YC companies, allows “a demo or a video” when a product genuinely can’t be tried online. [10]
The moderator’s advice for Show HN posts has one more line worth taking seriously: “Write your text by hand.” [11] On HN, the video is a supporting link on a page people can use, and the text is yours. If you do link straight to a video, the guidelines ask you to add “[video]” to the title. [12]
X
Video on X autoplays in the timeline, and anything 60 seconds or shorter loops. [13] When X introduced autoplay in 2015, it said sound would come on once you tap the video. [19] Web uploads can be up to 1920 by 1200, in shapes from 1:2.39 to 2.39:1 [13], and the developer docs recommend 16:9 or 1:1. [14] The length limit for free accounts is in flux: the help centre said 140 seconds as of September 2026, while the developer docs now say 20 minutes. [13] [14] A launch film fits under either.
X’s advice for video ads is to keep them to 15 seconds or less and to use captions or on-screen text, and that advice fits everything in the timeline, not just ads. [15] One post carries one video. [14]
LinkedIn takes videos from 3 seconds to 15 minutes, up to 5 GB, in shapes from 1:2.4 to 2.4:1. Its help centre asks you to keep “key elements, text, and logos” away from the edges, where the interface covers them, and lets you upload your own thumbnail. [16] Feed videos “may play automatically without sound”, and videos under 30 seconds loop. [17]
LinkedIn’s own example of something worth sharing as a video is “a new product your startup just launched.” [18]
One film, cut for each place
Put those rules side by side and a plan falls out.
Where | What it gets |
|---|---|
Product Hunt | The 16:9 film on YouTube, first in the gallery, plus stills from the film laid out at 1270×760 |
YC application | The 16:9 film at the start of a demo of three minutes or less |
Hacker News | A page people can try, with the film on it |
X | The 1:1 or 16:9 film, under 60 seconds so it loops |
The 1:1 film with its own thumbnail, text kept off the edges | |
Your homepage | The 16:9 film, silent, autoplaying |
That’s one film in two or three shapes. Everything that follows from it:
Make it work on mute. LinkedIn autoplays feed video without sound, X said when it launched autoplay that sound only comes on when you tap, and your homepage can’t autoplay sound for a new visitor. Put every word on screen. Add music only to the YouTube version, where people press play on purpose. (Design your product video for sound off explains why silent-first works.)
Keep it under 60 seconds. It loops on X, plays through on LinkedIn, and holds attention on Product Hunt, where visitors are comparing a dozen launches. Thirty to forty-five seconds is plenty. (How long should a product video be? has the reasoning.)
Say what’s new, in your own words. Your launch tagline and your homepage headline should agree, and the film should use them word for word. On launch day the same sentence will be read on Product Hunt, in your post, on your site and in the film, and it will be more convincing for it. (Your website is already a product video makes the case.)
Make the shapes at the same time. Cropping a 16:9 film to square or vertical the night before launch cuts your headline in half. Lay out each shape on purpose. (Why you can’t just crop a 16:9 video to 9:16 shows the difference.)
Pull your stills from the film. Product Hunt needs gallery images, LinkedIn takes a custom thumbnail, and your launch post needs a picture. Frames from the film give you all of them, and they match.
End on the button. The closing shot should show your call to action and your domain, because on launch day the next thing a viewer does is look for the link.
Make it a week early
The night-before launch video is a tradition, and it shows. Make the film a week early. It gives you time to put the stills in the gallery, the 1:1 cut in your drafts, the thumbnail on YouTube, and the same headline everywhere, and it means the film is finished before launch day gets too busy to fix anything.
If you want it made for you, that’s what we do: a launch-ready film in 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1 from your website, with stills and launch copy, within 24 hours. (How to make a SaaS product video, step by step covers doing it yourself.)
Notes
Product Hunt Help Center, “How to post a product” (May 2025).
Product Hunt, “Preparing for launch”. The video paragraph reads the same in the Internet Archive’s capture of August 17, 2022.
We read the page data of three launches featured on September 18, 2026. In all three, the share image was the first gallery image. Product Hunt doesn’t document this, so treat it as an observation.
Y Combinator, founder video instructions.
Dalton Caldwell, “How to apply and succeed at Y Combinator” (YC Startup Library, 2018).
The demo field’s wording and limit are from a published YC S23 application (printed October 2023). A 2025 form shows the same field label; we couldn’t confirm whether the limit has changed.
Stephanie Simon, “YC application tips: include a demo” (YC Startup Library, 2021).
Kat Mañalac, “The best way to launch your startup” (YC Startup Library, 2023).
Hacker News, Show HN guidelines.
Hacker News, Launch HN instructions.
Hacker News moderator dang, tips for presenting a Show HN (edited March 2026).
Hacker News, guidelines.
X Help Center, “How to share and watch videos on X” (as captured by the Internet Archive on September 8, 2026).
X developer documentation, media best practices (September 26, 2026).
X Business, creative ad specifications: “15 seconds or less is recommended.”
LinkedIn Help, “Share videos on LinkedIn”.
LinkedIn Help, “Manage video autoplay settings”.
LinkedIn Help, “Share a video on LinkedIn FAQ”.
X, “Introducing a more seamless video experience with autoplay” (June 2015): “Once you tap the video, sound will turn on.”
