What am I doing wrong?

Looking through your submissions and I see three types of link:

1. Your own startup

2. A Youtube link

3. Samsung links

Your startup links need a more compelling reason to click. There's little to no info on the pages, therefore the quality content is low.

Posting youtube links is pointless. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a youtube link hit the front page.

The samsung links were your first few submissions. Your first submissions rarely do well.

HN and reddit are very different in terms of the type of content that hits the front page. Sure there are similarities to /r/programming but the type of content that works well on reddit, doesn't often apply here.

To add to the similar view shared by many of the responses here, my approach is to write about something I care about and think others may benefit from, then think about which demographics it would be more relevant for. If that happens to be HN, great.

I don't worry at all about ranking and yet I've been 2nd and 4th on the front page. Write about something you care about. I too have a must-win attitude, but not in this respect. What is there to win? Virtual internet ego points? I just want to share my thoughts/experiences and hopefully be able to have a discussion and meet interesting people.

Why do you think you're doing something wrong? Are you just in it for the points? Why would you care?

I actually clicked on your McLaren link earlier today, but it wasn't interesting enough for me to want to upvote it.

I only upvote things of interest, I only comment if I have something to add to the discussion.

I don't think people should care about how well their submissions do. That isn't the point of HN, maybe a shift in the way you view HN will change what you submit, but either way, enjoy the content, add to the community, don't try to 'win'.

It sounds like you are posting things for the wrong reason