Inventor of the hashtag · #1 Product Hunter · Speaker · Product Designer

chris
messina

 

On a mission to make myself useful

I’ve spent my career living on the edge of social technology.

I often play product therapist (you can book me via Superpeer!) and help founders and makers nail their launches on Product Hunt.

🤪 Generally, I try not to take myself too seriously.

#️⃣ I’m best known for inventing the hashtag, but I’ve also designed products and experiences for Google, Uber, and Republic, founded startups, and changed the world with the creation of other social innovations, like coworking and BarCamp.

👔 I am a product designer and have spoken around the world about social technology, product design, synthetic media, founder culture and mental fitness.

🗣 I have twice spoken at TEDx, and SXSW, Google I/O, Microsoft’s Future Decoded and many other leading conferences. I have been quoted in media outlets like The New York Times, Business Week, LA Times, Washington Post, and Wired. I have also appeared (briefly!) in The Social Dilemma on Netflix, and in books like No Filter by Sarah Frier, and Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman.

Throughout my career, I have created movements online and off, and acted as catalyst for change in large and small organizations.

In 2004, I helped to organize the grassroots movement that propelled Mozilla Firefox to its first 100 million downloads.

In 2005, I co-organized the first BarCamp and then popularized the unconference event model to over 350 cities around the world.

In 2006, I, along with several friends, opened the first coworking spaces in the world, giving rise to a global movement.

Then in 2007, I invented the hashtag, changing the social media landscape forever by providing a means to galvanize popular social movements.

 

enthusiasms

Product Hunt

I love good product design and I love helping makers and creators improve their offerings and find and communicate with their audience. Good products are the resulting artifacts of healthy conversations and insights that take place within a community or ecosystem context. Product Hunt is where many of those products are shared more broadly for the first time. I joined the Product Hunt community in 2014 so I could watch the future unfold through product design and innovation, and to do my part in sharing what I discovered in my own explorations of the internet. I help makers launch on Product Hunt by submitting their products on their behalf (for free) or by offering coaching on how to nail a launch (for a fee).

techmeme ride home experience

The Techmeme Ride Home Experience started as a social audio experiment. During the pandemic, I found myself going on daily walks listening to Brian McCullough’s daily show and found myself wanting to chime in with analysis or context for the tech news he deftly summarized. I reached out and invited him to join me in a Clubhouse room — and it quickly became a weekly staple.

product therapy & consulting

In addition to coaching makers on how to nail their launches on Product Hunt, I also offer consulting and product therapy to founders who are looking to benefit from the thousands of products I’ve reviewed or from my time designing products at Google and Uber. I can help you with user experience, product positioning, community development, launch strategy, fundraising and more. Book time with me via Superpeer.

angel investing & ADvising

I’ve angel invested in several exciting and innovative companies from across the spectrum including: Babylist, Blush, CommandBar, Opal, KEAP, Kive.ai, Rosebud, SpaceX, Superpeer, Tonx (acquired by Blue Bottle Coffee), Uptime, Vmind, VoiceFlow, and YesPLZ.

I currently advise Neeva and T2.

 
 
 

 

playlists

 

 

at a glance

INVENTED THE HASHTAG

Hard to have predicted, but it turned out to be a thing. Like, a big thing.

 

🏆 #1 PRODUCT HUNTER

I’ve hunted over 3000 products on Product Hunt. Need a hunter?

 

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Grew up in New Hampshire; my libertarian roots run deep.

NOT THE ACTOR

I get a lot of his mentions on Twitter, but we’re actually different people.

distinctions

on deck fellow (ODF4 and ODCC)

YC Founder (W’18)

Liberty Science Center genius award recipient

O’Reilly open source award recipient