Build and grow a pre-launch waitlist to 100 email signups from real people outside your personal network.
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Define the waitlist value proposition
1 week (5–8 hrs)
Write a one-paragraph product brief for your pre-launch landing page: what problem you're solving, who it's for, and why the timing is now. Test this brief with at least 5 people in your target audience — not friends or family — and record their immediate reaction (confused, intrigued, skeptical, excited). Revise the brief based on what fell flat. The brief becomes the copy backbone of your waitlist page.
Proof required
Submit your final one-paragraph product brief, notes from the 5 conversations (anonymised, one paragraph each), and a short note on what you changed after the feedback and why.
What gets checked
Brief uses a concrete before/after framing ('right now you have to X, with [product] you can Y') — not a category descriptor.
At least two feedback notes record confusion or skepticism — purely positive feedback means the wrong people were asked.
Change log explains what the original phrasing was, what reaction it got, and why you changed it — not just what you changed to.
Resources
Foundation: start here · Depth: go deeper · Mastery: for the dedicated
Foundation
Julian Shapiro — Startup Landing Page Guide
Depth
YC — How to Get Startup Ideas
Launch the landing page and collect first 50 signups
Reach 100 signups and interview 10 waitlist members
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