How to Build a Waitlist to 100k+

In this episode, we sit down with Zehra Naqvi, founder of Lore, the internet’s home for obsession. Before launching a single feature, Zehra and her team built a waitlist of over 100,000 users, generated 215M+ organic views, and grew a 14,000-person Discord community, all by rallying Gen Z around one shared frustration: the internet is broken for fandom.

We get into everything from why TikTok’s algorithm has a “short memory,” the exact strategies behind Lore’s viral TikTok and Twitter moments, why leading with the problem (not the solution) built insane trust, and how their Discord quietly became a cult-like community that now powers the product itself.

If you’re a consumer founder, marketer, or anyone thinking deeply about the future of social media, fandom, and community-led growth, this episode is a masterclass in building something people feel emotionally invested in before it even exists.

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00:00 — Going Viral Before Launch

How Lore went viral on Twitter in its first week and what happens when you move fast on shared frustration.

00:11:49 — The Power of Starting With the Problem

Why Lore’s earliest content focused only on frustration, not features or product demos.

00:13:38 — “We Are You” as a Brand Strategy

How shared pain points create trust, camaraderie, and community faster than any feature launch.

00:15:00 — Why Most Founders Market Too Early

The mistake of pushing solutions before trust, and why Lore avoided it.

00:18:42 — The Waitlist Strategy (100K+ Signups)

How Lore tested fandoms, rode cultural moments, and scaled organically.

00:21:26 — 215M Views Without Hard CTAs

Why curiosity beat conversion tactics, and how to subtlety drive massive signups.

00:25:58 — UGC Over Influencers

Why Lore chose everyday fans over big creators, and why that mattered.

00:30:46 — The Discord Flywheel

Adding a Discord button to the waitlist → 14,000 members → organic fandom governance.

00:31:36 — Letting Users Build the Community

Fandom requests, voting systems, mods, and self-sustaining culture.

00:38:19 — The Future of Social Media

Lore as the antithesis to curated personas and infinite feeds, and what comes next.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playkit.substack.com