Leveraging the Indie movement in wellness through a waitlist aggregator

Abstract

Startups are finding it increasingly difficult to engage with their target market. Particularly in the wellness industry, where there is a lot of competition and startups need to stand out, the early stages are critical. They seek to generate leads and assess customer expectations through a landing page they host on their own domains, where users can join a waitlist to test their product idea. This can become expensive in terms of budget needed for public relations and social media to promote their site. Landing pages and waitlists allow early adopters and product enthusiasts to discover new products and services while they are still being developed. Followers gained via the waitlist help to validate proof of concept, develop of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and provide a following for successful market launch and fundraising/crowdfunding campaign. However, it can be difficult to marry potential product enthusiasts with waitlists of interest because not all products are reviewed on blogs, not all social media ads target them, and not all startups are interested in crowdfunding. Existing social media platforms, blogs, forums and crowdfunding sites that showcase new products thrive because early adopters and product enthusiasts are always looking to find out the next new thing, share it with their friends and even invest. However, these platforms have limitations that make it difficult for entrepreneurs to find and engage with quality early adopters. For example, crowdfunding sites tend to cater to hardware, are limited to certain industries, and do not allow entrepreneurs to generate leads and connect with their followers on their own platform prior to hosting a crowdfunding campaign. This thesis aims to outline a business plan and minimal viable product for a waitlist aggregator, an online meeting space for entrepreneurs and early adopters in the wellness industry. Through network effects of this proposed two-sided platform, the traffic volume generated could significantly reduce the need for paid digital marketing campaigns and help entrepreneurs find quality leads. It would also inform interested consumers about new product developments all in one place, let them join the waitlist, beta-test the product and communicate directly with the company.