Latest / Solopreneur Sessions with Fexingo: One-Person Businesses, Freelancing, and Independent Work / How a One-Person Business Used a Waitlist to 10x Revenue
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this moment every solopreneur dreads — you build something for months, launch it, and then… crickets. No sales. No signups. Just a hollow feeling and a credit card bill. Luna: Right. And that's why a lot of people just never launch at all. Analysis paralysis. Lucas: Exactly. But there's a model that completely flips that risk equation. It's the pre-launch waitlist. And I want to talk about a specific case — a solo developer I've been following who built a simple SaaS tool for freelancers to track their invoices and payments. Luna: Okay, what's the tool? Lucas: It's called BillEase — not a real company name, but the story is real. He's a solo dev in Austin. He spent about six weeks building an MVP. But instead of launching to zero, he put up a single landing page with a waitlist signup. And he drove traffic by posting in three freelance communities and one subreddit. Luna: I've seen people do that. But does it actually convert into revenue? Or is it just a vanity metric? Lucas: That's the key question. So here's the math: In three weeks, he collected 2,000 email addresses. Then he sent a confirmation email that had a 12 percent open rate, which is low — but the click-through rate from that open was 35 percent. So about 84 people clicked through to his pricing page. Luna: That's not a huge number. But if the pricing is right... Lucas: Right. His pricing was $49 a month. And from that 84, he had a 22 percent conversion to a pre-order. So 18 people pre-paid for the first month. That's $882 before launch. Not a fortune, but it validated demand. Luna: So he knew 18 strangers were willing to pay before he even had a finished product. That's a huge psychological shift. Lucas: Exactly. He didn't have to guess. And that pre-launch revenue covered his hosting and a few tools for the first year. But the real win was the 2,000 emails — because on launch day, he sent them all a launch email, and 4 percent converted to paid customers on day one. Luna: So 80 new customers from the waitlist alone? That's $3,920 in monthly recurring revenue on day one. Lucas: Exactly. And that snowballed through word of mouth. Within three months, he hit 400 paying users. That's nearly $20,000 a month in revenue. All from a waitlist he built in three weeks with zero ad spend. Luna: I think the psychology piece is underrated. By joining a waitlist, people are making a small commitment. And when you later ask them to buy, they're more likely to because they've already said yes once. Lucas: It's the principle of consistency. Robert Cialdini wrote about it. Once someone takes a small action, they want to be consistent with that identity. They see themselves as someone interested in your product. Luna: But what about service businesses? I consult, and I can't exactly put a waitlist for my time. Or can I? Lucas: You actually can. A lot of solo consultants use a 'book a discovery call' waitlist. They limit the number of clients they take per month. So they put up a page saying 'Join the waitlist for June availability.' And when a slot opens, they email the list. Luna: That's smart. It creates scarcity. And it also filters out people who aren't serious. If someone joins a waitlist and then doesn't respond to an offer, they probably weren't going to be a great client anyway. Lucas: Exactly. And there's another layer: the waitlist itself can be a tool for market research. The BillEase developer asked two questions on his signup form: 'What's your biggest invoicing pain point?' and 'How much would you pay to solve it?' He got 400 responses. Luna: That's gold. You can shape your product based on real customer language, not assumptions. Lucas: Right. He found that 60 percent of respondents said their biggest pain was chasing late payments. So he built an automated reminder feature as a priority. That became his biggest selling point. Luna: So the waitlist wasn't just a marketing tool — it was a product development tool. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the angle I find most useful for solopreneurs. You're not just collecting emails. You're collecting intelligence. And you're building a relationship before you even ask for the sale. Luna: I want to try this with my next offering. But I worry about the time it takes to set up a landing page and drive traffic. How long did he say it took him? Lucas: He said the landing page took about an afternoon using a template. The traffic came from three hours of posting in communities over a week. So maybe five hours total for the waitlist setup. Luna: That's manageable. What about the email sequence? Did he just send one email or a whole nurture sequence? Lucas: He sent a confirmation email immediately, then a weekly update email for three weeks leading up to launch. Each update shared a sneak peek of a feature. That's how he got the 35 percent click-through rate. People were curious. Luna: So the key is to provide value in those updates. Not just 'launching soon' but actual previews. Lucas: Exactly. He showed a screenshot of the dashboard. Then a video of the invoice generator. Then a testimonial from a beta tester. Each email built anticipation. By launch day, people felt like insiders. Luna: I love that. It's almost like a mini-product launch event, but without the stress of a live stream. Lucas: And without the risk of a cold launch. You've already warmed up your audience. They're primed to buy. Luna: One thing I wonder about — how do you handle pricing on a waitlist? Do you show the price upfront or keep it hidden? Lucas: Good question. In his case, he didn't show the price on the waitlist page. But in the confirmation email, he included a link to a pricing page. That's how he got the 84 clicks and 18 pre-orders. He used a 'launch discount' of 20 percent for waitlist members. Luna: So the discount created urgency. That makes sense. Lucas: Right. But you don't have to offer a discount. Some people use a 'first access' model instead. The psychology is that being first feels exclusive. That can be more valuable than a discount for some audiences. Luna: I think for a service business, first access might work better. Because you're selling your time, and early adopters get your full attention. Lucas: Exactly. A consultant could say 'I'm opening three spots for beta clients at a reduced rate, and after that, the price triples.' That's even more scarcity. Luna: So the waitlist model works for both product and service if you adapt the framing. That's a big takeaway for me. Lucas: And the underlying principle is the same: validate before you build. Or at least before you go all in. The BillEase developer spent six weeks building the MVP, but he validated the idea with the waitlist in two weeks. So he knew he wasn't wasting his time. Luna: That's the kind of risk reduction that every solopreneur needs. Because time is the one resource you can't get back. Lucas: Speaking of resources, this show is possible because of listeners who chip in a few dollars a month. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, a couple of dollars is genuinely what keeps them going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really makes a difference. We keep the show ad-free, and that's only possible with that kind of support. Lucas: Exactly. So back to the waitlist — I want to talk about one more tactic he used that I think is underrated. Luna: What's that? Lucas: He added a referral incentive. On the thank-you page after signup, he said 'Know another freelancer who hates chasing payments? Send them this link. If they sign up, you both get a free month.' He got 300 additional signups from referrals. Luna: That's a 15 percent boost. And it cost him nothing upfront because he only delivered the free month after launch. Lucas: Right. And those referred users had a higher conversion rate — around 7 percent on launch day, compared to 4 percent for organic signups. Because they came with a social recommendation. Luna: So the waitlist becomes a growth engine in itself. It's not just a list, it's a network. Lucas: Exactly. And for a solopreneur, that's the holy grail. You can't buy that kind of trust. You have to earn it, one small step at a time. Luna: I'm actually going to test a waitlist for my next project. I have a digital course idea I've been sitting on. And this conversation gave me a concrete plan. Lucas: That's great. Start with one landing page, one community post, and one email. See what happens. You might be surprised. Luna: And if I get 2,000 emails, I'll be thrilled. Lucas: Yeah, but even 200 is enough to validate. The number isn't the point. The signal is. Luna: Good point. I think a lot of people get hung up on hitting big numbers. But if 20 people pre-order, that's proof of concept. Lucas: Exactly. And once you have that proof, you can build with confidence. That's the whole philosophy behind the pre-launch waitlist — fail fast, but fail cheap. Or better yet, don't fail at all.