Latest / The Indie Hacker Podcast with Fexingo: Solo Developers, SaaS Side Projects, and Independent Tech / How a Solo Dev Hit 10K MRR With a Waitlist Strategy
Transcript
- Lucas: You know, we've talked a lot on this show about solo devs who hit ten thousand dollars in monthly recurring revenue through newsletters, pricing tests, even TikTok. But one angle we haven't covered is the waitlist — not just a simple 'sign up for early access', but a full-blown waitlist strategy that generates revenue before the product even launches. Luna: I've seen a few examples of that, but it always seemed risky. You're asking people to commit money before they've seen the final product. How do you pull that off? Lucas: Well, the case I want to look at today is a solo developer — let's call him Alex — who built an ai powered resume screening tool. He's a former recruiter turned developer, so he understood the pain point intimately. His goal was ten thousand MRR within six months of launch, but he started building his waitlist three months before he had a working product. Luna: So he was selling vaporware, essentially. That's a bold move. Lucas: Arguably, but he did it transparently. He launched a landing page with a clear explanation: 'I'm building this tool. I need early adopters to shape it. In exchange for your deposit, you get lifetime discounted pricing.' And he set up three tiers on the waitlist. Luna: Three tiers. What were they? Lucas: Tier one was a free tier — just your email address. You got updates and a one-month free trial at launch. Tier two required a fifty-dollar refundable deposit, which gave you six months at half price. Tier three was a two-hundred-dollar non-refundable deposit that locked in a lifetime forty percent discount and a direct line to the developer for feature requests. Luna: That's smart. The non-refundable piece — that's real revenue, not just intent. But also a risk if you don't deliver. Lucas: Exactly. And Alex was careful. He set a cap on tier three — only fifty spots. He didn't want to take on more financial obligation than he could handle. And he used the deposits to fund development. He actually quit his part-time job once he had twenty tier-three signups, which gave him four thousand dollars to work with. Luna: So the waitlist wasn't just marketing — it was his seed funding. Lucas: Right. And he used another tactic that I think is underused: a referral ladder. Every person who joined any tier got a unique referral link. If you referred someone who joined tier two, you got ten percent of their deposit. If they joined tier three, you got twenty percent. And the top referrer each month got a free lifetime subscription. Luna: That creates a viral loop, but only if the product is compelling enough for people to want to bring their friends. How did he make that work before the product existed? Lucas: He published a series of blog posts about the problem of resume screening — how hiring managers spend an average of seven seconds on a resume, how bias creeps in, how AI can help but most tools are enterprise-priced. He built authority first. And every post had a subtle call to action: 'If you want to be part of the solution, join the waitlist.' His referral ladder was prominently displayed. Luna: So the content was the engine. That's a classic content-marketing play, but with a twist — the conversion was a deposit, not just an email. Lucas: Exactly. By the time he had a beta ready, he had four hundred people on the waitlist. Fifty of them were tier three — that's ten thousand dollars in non-refundable deposits alone. Plus another hundred on tier two, which gave him five thousand more in refundable deposits. He had fifteen thousand dollars in cash before he had a single paying customer. Luna: But the refundable deposits — that's a liability on the books. If he never launched, he'd have to give that money back. Lucas: Absolutely. He was very aware of that. He kept that five thousand in a separate account and didn't touch it. The ten thousand from tier three — that was his runway. He gave himself a six-month timeline. If he couldn't launch a viable product by then, he'd refund the tier-two folks and eat the loss on development time. Luna: That's a gutsy personal commitment. I'm not sure most solo devs have the savings to take that kind of risk. Lucas: True. But the payoff was significant. When he finally launched — six months after starting the waitlist — he converted sixty-three percent of his waitlist into paying customers within the first week. That's unheard of. Typical SaaS conversion from waitlist to paid is around twenty to thirty percent. Luna: Why such a high conversion? Was it the deposit effect — people felt committed? Lucas: Partly. But also, he used the waitlist period to actually build features based on feedback. Tier-three members had direct access to a private Slack channel. He would ask them, 'What's the one thing you need this tool to do?' and then prioritize based on the most requested features. By launch day, the product already had the top ten features his early adopters wanted. Luna: So it was co-created. That's a huge advantage over a typical stealth launch. Lucas: Right. And he also used scarcity. He made the waitlist tiers time-limited. Tier three was only open for two weeks. After that, the only option was tier two or free. That FOMO — fear of missing out — drove a lot of the early tier-three signups. Luna: I can see that working. I've seen similar tactics in crowdfunding, but applied to SaaS, it's interesting. Did he keep the pricing the same after launch? Lucas: No, and this is another key point. Post-launch, he raised the price. The regular monthly price was set at twenty-nine dollars. But waitlist members — even the free tier — got a grandfathered price of nineteen dollars for the first year. So there was a real financial incentive to be on the waitlist, not just a moral one. Luna: That's smart. You're rewarding early believers, but you're also not leaving money on the table from new customers. Lucas: Exactly. And within three months of launch, he hit ten thousand MRR. That's nine months from starting the waitlist — three months pre-launch, six months building, three months post-launch. And he did it as a solo dev, with no outside funding, no co-founder, no marketing budget. Luna: That's impressive. But I have to ask — what about the people who didn't convert? The other thirty-seven percent on the waitlist. Did he try to win them back? Lucas: He did. He sent a personal email to every non-converter, asking for feedback. Most said they either didn't have an immediate need or the price was still too high. He offered them a one-time discount — fifteen dollars per month for six months — and about half of those took it. That brought his overall conversion rate to nearly eighty percent. Luna: So persistence paid off. It's a good lesson — the sale isn't over when someone doesn't buy on day one. Lucas: Exactly. And the numbers matter: he started with four hundred on the waitlist, converted sixty-three percent in week one, then another seventeen percent with the follow-up. That's three hundred and twenty customers at an average of nineteen dollars per month — that gets you to about six thousand MRR. Then over the next two months, he added organic signups and referrals to hit the ten thousand mark. Luna: So the waitlist was really just the first step. The real growth came from the product itself and word of mouth. Lucas: Right. The waitlist created a foundation of engaged, paying users who then became evangelists. He told me that his referral program — separate from the pre-launch ladder — accounted for thirty percent of new signups after launch. And those referred users had a higher lifetime value because they came with a trusted recommendation. Luna: It's a virtuous cycle. But I wonder — is this replicable for any SaaS? Or are there specific conditions where a deposit-based waitlist makes sense? Lucas: I think it works best when the problem is urgent and the solution is clear. Resume screening — that's a pain point for anyone who hires. The value proposition is easy to explain. If you're building a niche tool for a small audience, the urgency might not be there, and asking for a deposit could backfire. Luna: Plus, you need a certain amount of trust. Alex had a background in recruiting and a blog. He wasn't a complete unknown. If you're a first-time founder with no audience, it's probably harder. Lucas: Absolutely. But there are ways to build that trust. You could offer a prototype video, a detailed roadmap, or even a money-back guarantee on the deposit. The key is to over-deliver on communication. Alex sent weekly updates — not just 'we're working on it' but actual screenshots, feature demos, and beta invites. Luna: That's a lot of work for a solo dev. He must have been putting in eighty-hour weeks. Lucas: He said it was more like sixty, but yeah, it was intense. And he admits he made mistakes. For one, he underestimated the time it would take to build the AI model. He had to pivot from a fully automated system to a human-in-the-loop approach for the first few months. That delayed his launch by a month. Luna: How did the waitlist react to that delay? Lucas: He was transparent. He sent an email saying, 'I hit a technical roadblock. Here's what I'm doing to fix it. If you want a refund on your deposit, I'll process it immediately.' Only three people asked for refunds — all tier two. And he refunded them within twenty-four hours. That honesty actually strengthened trust with the rest. Luna: That's a great example of how to handle a crisis. Most founders would hide it or sugarcoat it. Lucas: Right. And I think that's a big takeaway from this story: the waitlist strategy works, but only if you're genuine and you deliver. The deposits are a promise. If you break that promise, you lose not just those customers but your reputation. Luna: So for anyone listening who's thinking about starting a SaaS, what's the first step? Should they start a waitlist today? Lucas: I'd say yes, but start small. You don't need three tiers. Start with one — a simple email waitlist with a promise of early access and a discount. Build a landing page, write a few blog posts about the problem, and see if you can get even fifty signups. If you can't get fifty people to give you their email, you probably won't get fifty to pay you. Luna: That's a good low-risk test. And if it works, you can introduce deposits later. Lucas: Exactly. And one more thing — Alex's story shows the power of constraints. He had limited time, limited money, but he turned the waitlist into a forcing function. Every tier-three member was a stakeholder. He couldn't let them down. That pressure made him work harder and smarter. Luna: It's a great example of how indie hackers can use creativity, not capital, to get started. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And if today's conversation gave you something useful — maybe a tactic you can apply to your own project — the way these episodes stay ad-free is through listener support. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep the show going, and we appreciate everyone who's chipped in. Luna: Yeah, it really helps. And we love hearing from listeners who try these strategies. Let us know how it goes. Lucas: Absolutely. So next time you're starting a project, think about the waitlist not as a placeholder, but as a product development tool. It can validate your idea, fund your build, and create a community of early adopters who will carry you through launch. Luna: And if you do it right, you might just hit ten K MRR before you know it. Thanks for listening.