We are building HustleAdvisor, a social network where entrepreneurs share practical lessons and can charge for access when it truly saves time or money. Here is how we got our first 1,600 people on the waitlist in a month.
The heavy lift came from TikTok. I posted short edits with punchy hooks and motivational music, sometimes using famous movie moments like The Wolf of Wall Street. A few were simple cuts I made, a few were paid edits. One clip took off to about 800k views and drove roughly 1,300 signups on its own. The format was always the same. one clear message, one line in the caption, and the link in bio. I used Promote a couple of times with tiny budgets, but the viral edit did most of the work.
The rest came from communities. On Indie Hackers and Reddit, especially the Whop and Skool subreddits, I replied to people who felt ignored. I acknowledged the problem, shared what we were building, and invited them to join if they wanted a place that values maker style posts. No spam, just direct and specific replies.
The landing page has one screen and one action. email only with a short promise of value. After sign up, a short survey asked about pains and topics. Those answers shaped the next videos and the first posts creators want to write.
