Launch an influencer campaign for waitlist tools
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a waitlist tool. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English pre-launch founder, 24-36, already bounced off a Carrd plus Google Form and a viral-loop waitlist that attracted other founders, watches 'my waitlist is 800 other founders' and 'the Form responses are a mess' videos the week before they wanted to ship. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You really need to do this for hundreds of creators a day, because the market is not efficient. Some dumb startup is paying thousands for hundreds of views. I scroll as the person who would pay for this tool on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator fees extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I have 800 on the list and I think 600 of them ship newsletters, not my app. They already tried Carrd plus a Google Form, a viral-loop waitlist of other founders, and a Twitter 'reply for access' that went nowhere. Skip the launch-Twitter person whose waitlist course is the product. Adjacent is pre-launch dread, founder-heavy lists, not growth-hack loops. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone opening 800 waitlist emails and recognizing half as other indie hackers. Signal: the same 800-founders face two pre-launch weeks.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a Carrd footer or a personal gmail in a tweet. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Launch coaches quote course prices. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. A page, an email ping, no referral gimmick required. Put the page up, join it yourself, show the ping. No loop required.
Why most first waitlist tools campaigns stall
01
Launch coaches quote course prices. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Founder-heavy-list rants already have the audience; a plain email-capture that pings you is the boring product that works.
02
People tag #waitlist when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A waitlist counter that is obviously other founders.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask them to fake 10k on a waitlist. Ask them to show a ping from a real join.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. A working waitlist page they can put a real product name on tonight.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is signups to a live waitlist product, unique link.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would pay for this tool on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Launch coaches quote course prices. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The tag is launch coaches selling viral loops. I read the session the person who would pay for this tool actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.