IMO you need two lists: "Popular Lately" which is what this list is now, and ALSO "Trending" which is sorted by some measure of recent growth.
That way up and coming stuff doesn't have to dethrone github/slack/etc in order to get seen.
That way up and coming stuff doesn't have to dethrone github/slack/etc in order to get seen.
Does this sound interesting?
As a prospective software buyer, however, it doesn't necessarily sound all that interesting. I mean, so what if a lot of companies that are in a similar location and industry to mine use Bitbucket. That doesn't tell me if it's actually great or if they just don't know any better. And if fin-tech companies that went through YC love using Aha for product roadmapping, it's kind of the same thing - what does that really mean?
That said, I can see some situations where it would be interesting. If I'm looking for software that has intense compliance or performance requirements, then know what other people in my industry use would be helpful - so I would know that I'm making a reasonable decision.
Also, what would be super interesting would be knowing what software transitions/replacements people have made. For example, if I'm using JIRA and not really loving it it would be really cool to know what people who have left JIRA have used to replace it. A lot of times I've found myself not entirely satisfied with some work/productivity app and wondered if there's a better option out there, but then found it can take a lot of research and experimentation to answer that question so I just go back to the status quo. Seeing that a lot of people have happily made a transition I'm considering - or maybe a slightly different one - would be cool. Of course, you may well not have that kind of information for a long time.
Adding additional filters is fairly easy, but I think we decided against it thinking that "no one" would find them or be interested.
Maybe we're wrong about that (there seems to be demand here, and HN seems to be doing just fine with multiple feeds/filters).