2 builders who never spoke to each other

Discount the signups that cost nothing to give

Waitlist entries, friends trying the beta and a burst from a community feature all feel like traction and convert far worse than interest someone paid for. Lenny Rachitsky's physical-product waitlists all converted under 5% once selling opened, and Cory Zue treats a day of community signups as low value while keeping the feedback that came with them. Reaching people who do not know you is the next goal after shipping, not the one you just met.

The method

1. 01

   A waitlist for a physical product is a much weaker signal than one for software. Plan on almost none of it converting once you are selling openly.

2. 02

   A feature on a community site brings a burst of signups and useful product feedback, but discount the signups themselves as low-intent.

3. 03

   Getting your friends to use the MVP does not count, so treat reaching people who do not know you as the next explicit goal after shipping.

What it returned

• 5%

  The few data points Lenny Rachitsky gathered for physical goods all converted at under 5% after a wide rollout.

• 9

  Being featured on Indie Hackers produced 9 signups in a day plus a lot of feedback, which Zue described as probably low value signups.

Sources

• The Indie Hackers "30 Days of Growth" challengeCory Zue · coryzue.com · Day 6 · 2019-07-01
• Week 7 RetrospectiveCory Zue · coryzue.com · Comments · 2017-05-08
• What is good waitlist conversion - by Lenny RachitskyLenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · Q: What is a good waitlist conversion? Any advice for making the most of our waitlist? · 2022-03-01