With so many innovative apps, startups and tech products out there, finding what you want can be overwhelming and time-consuming. But now, there’s a new site that curates all these in one place- Product Hunt.

The startup was launched only one year ago, but already, it has drawn interest from 500,000 users, including product creators, investors, and prolific media sites including Mashable and TechCrunch. Founded by 27-year old Ryan Hoover, the site is community-driven, with the intention of showcasing the latest new web and mobile products. Whether these are apps, websites, hardware projects, or tech creations, the site’s concise content aggregation lets users find exactly what they are looking for, and discover more. The style of the site is very much like Reddit, with members posting any submissions they see fit, and registered users can “upvote” or “downvote” these. Products and their short 60-character descriptions are then shown in chronological order, with the day’s products shown immediately upon entering the site.

So how does it help product developers and owners? The primary way is of course visibility- having your product advertised on such a popular site will likely generate leads, views and online sharing. And of course, both these things will make it more likely to attract investors- the site’s other demographic. One such startup, Front, a shared email desktop app, credits the site for allowing its team to connect with other great companies and investors. Within 14 days, the app generated 2574 visits to its site, 80 signups, 55 qualified leads, and 35 shares.

And for investors, has Product Hunt proved lucrative? Firstly, the site makes it easy for product discovery, and active product hunters have the benefit of being invited to become commenters, whereas other users do not. Around 4% currently have the ability to comment, meaning specific questions can be asked and responded to. This gives investors the chance to raise detailed points as to the workability and usability of products they are interested in, and have the designer reply directly.

Other similar sites such as Reddit and Hacker News have been around much longer than Product Hunt, yet the latter has proven to be just as successful in its initial stages. The reason why sites such as these three are forever popular is because people will always need a place where they can find something quickly and easily. Price comparison websites, flight finders, and shopping discovery sites such as Shopstyle offer similar services, although they trawl the Internet for their results. In the same manner however, Product Hunt allows users to find exactly what they want from a niche industry. And we see Product Hunt growing ever more successful because it ensures all posts remain high quality- only 1-2% of monthly visitors are allowed to post, meaning all products on the site are the best of what the online community has to offer. This will also ensure that Product Hunt will maintain its status as the reliable go-to site for investors seeking a worthy item.

Do you think content curation sites are quickly becoming more widely used? Will their benefits make them lucrative platforms? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.