WAITLIST LAUNCH — 6 weeks

The mistake is treating a waitlist as a signup form. It's a 6-week
conversion sequence where the list gets warmer, not just longer. Hype,
scarcity, and conversion beats, staged:

WEEK 1 — HYPE (open the loop)
  Landing page live. The headline sells the outcome, not the product.
  Join incentive: early access + founding-member pricing locked.
  Don't say the price yet — the withheld number is the hook.

WEEK 2 — SCARCITY (make position mean something)
  Turn on the referral mechanic: your spot moves up per referral, and
  show people their number. A waitlist where position is visible and
  movable is the one that goes viral; a static list just sits.
  "You're #847. Three referrals moves you into the first-access group."

WEEK 3 — PROOF (warm the list)
  Behind-the-scenes, a real screenshot, a founder note. The list is
  cooling by now — this is the re-engagement beat. One email that
  reminds them why they joined and shows the thing is real.

WEEK 4 — THE TIER REVEAL (convert the top)
  Now name the founding price, and cap it. "First 200 off the list get
  [price], locked forever." Scarcity becomes concrete. Top-of-list
  gets a private link before anyone else.

WEEK 5 — URGENCY (the deadline is real)
  Countdown to launch. Early-access group gets in 48h before public.
  This is the beat that converts warm interest into day-one users.

WEEK 6 — LAUNCH (sequence the doors)
  Day -2   early-access group (your most-referred, most-engaged)
  Day 0    full list
  Day +1   public
  Staggering protects the launch AND rewards the people who worked the
  referral loop — they got in first, exactly as promised.

THE NUMBER THAT PREDICTS LAUNCH
Referral rate in week 2. Under 15% of signups referring means the
incentive or the product promise is soft — fix it in week 3, before the
list cools past saving.

Want the week-1 landing page copy, with the withheld-price hook?