Friday at noon the link went live. By Monday morning the number on the dashboard had a seventh digit and the founder had stopped answering the phone because there was nothing left to sell.
The six weeks nobody saw
The weekend was the short part. The work was the six weeks before it: a waitlist opened with a single film, a newsletter that went out every Thursday, and a paid campaign that never once asked anyone to buy anything. It asked for an email. That was the whole pitch.
By launch day the list held nine thousand people who had already been told the price, the date and the quantity. There was no persuasion left to do. There was only a door to open.
We did not launch a product. We opened a door people were already standing outside of.
What we would do again
Everything. The film, the waitlist, the slow newsletter. The only change is the next one starts eight weeks out instead of six, because the last week of the list was the most valuable and we want more of it.
