Product Hunt is really only "democratized" if you know someone who can post to the Featured list. For the rest of us, it's either the obscurity of the "Newest" list, or basically the same exact process as getting covered by someone at TC.
With that said, who'd be interested in making a more democratized version of PH? Where we share together our own creations and help promote them with eachother? Kind of like r/entrepreneur but more focused. Could be cool. PM me.