$0 to $15,000/mo in 36 hours

Do not index

Last week I quietly opened a paid Slack community.

Members chat, network, and get one monthly live Q&A with me. The whole thing.

I capped it at a 150 members. I thought that is a good number where I can deliver value.

$99/month. It’s called the Founder Circle.

It sold out in 36 hours. $15K MRR.

Over 800 people joined the waitlist before I even had time to mention it in this newsletter.

This got me thinking…

How to actually plan and execute a launch is something alot of people struggle with.

Here are my thoughts 👇🏼

Honestly, I didn't plan this launch well. Looking back, here's what I'd have done differently, and what actually worked despite the mess.

1 - Communicate early and build hype

I did a few tweets and asked around on X beforehand, but there was no real launch sequence like my other products.

If I'd hyped the waitlist for even a week, I think the response would have been even bigger and more predictable.

2 - Offer a waitlist before you launch

Even without hype, having a place for interested people to land before spots open makes the whole thing feel structured instead of chaotic.

This also helps in the longevity of the product itself (you can get more people in if a few leave).

3 - Let a few people in early

A small group joining before the full launch would have let me catch onboarding issues and fix them before 150 people showed up at once.

I skipped this step and felt it.

Day 1 was just spent in setting up everything perfectly and fixing leaks.

4 - Create real urgency

The 150 cap wasn't a marketing trick. And it’s not permanent. It’s a test.

I'll look at the numbers and decide whether to close it or grow it from there.

Real constraints create real urgency, and people respond to that faster than fake countdown timers. This motivated users to get in while they can.

5 - Turn early users into your acquisition channel

This is the part that compounds. Your first users are your best distribution if you let them be.

Not applicable to the community, but useful for everyone planning a launch.

Revid.ai's affiliates generated $9,585.40 in the last 30 days. Outrank.so's affiliates earned $8,161.94 in commissions in the same period.

Neither of those numbers came from ads. They came from early users who liked the product enough to tell other people, and had a reason to do it.

If you're launching anything right now, ask your first 10 to 20 users to share it. Give them a reason to. You’d be surprised.

(I’m planning to write a full edition on how to set this up and what it take to build a successful affiliate program, if you want to read it, reply back to this email and tell me 👀 👇🏼)

Honestly, this wasn't a perfectly executed launch.

I made mistakes, mainly not hyping the waitlist enough and not letting a small group in early to catch issues.

But that's fine.

I'm not doing this for the money. I'm doing it to get closer to the community and give back what I've learned over the years.

If you want in when more spots open, join the waitlist here: tmaker.io/founders.

We'll notify you if a spot opens. No sales emails, just a heads up.

Know a founder who'd get value from this kind of room? Send them the link too.

Reply and tell me 👇🏼

If you were to join my community, what’s the #1 thing that would make it a no brainer and provide value?

I’m trying my best to provide the best experience, and your replies will help a lot!

Life of an Indie Maker #10 - my weekly animated series

No episode this week :(

Instead, you can find out why ChatGPT has been resetting the rate limits this week here 👀

Tweet of the week

I might not like VC money, but this is real good advice:

Until next week,

Keep building

Tibo 💻

P.S. If you're launching something soon, the one thing I'd steal from this: don't launch to everyone at once. Launch to a number small enough that it sells out. Deliver for them, then take the next step.