I personally know two foreign founders in the U.S on the O-1.

From their experiences, the most important thing has been national press coverage, especially through traditional media institutions, though not necessarily in print or on TV (that said, they do have both). The second most important thing was a good immigration lawyer specialising in this category - the process is long and expensive, and requires a broad set of documentation.

Letters of recommendation from inside and outside the U.S, conference speaking, research and industry whitepapers, outstanding academics can all help.

Did you mean O-1? The O range of US visas are exceedingly rare and hard to get. The term "Extraordinary Ability" is used. So unless you're literally best-in-class at something or are very well politically connected within the US you're unlikely to get one.

For example, in 2013 the US granted only 12,359 O-1s. Compared with almost 10 million visas total (although in fairness the majority of those were tourist/temp ones).

I suggest you read the requirements here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-1_visa

Unless you're a "big deal" in your home country for whatever it is you've accomplished you will struggle to get an O-1. Also you'll likely struggle to find too many other O-1 recipients as they just aren't that common.

I've had a half a dozen or so musician friends receive an O-1 to be in the states though not a single hacker friend.