How Data Hokage Built a Waitlist Through Community Engagement
Sinazo Bogicevic is the founder of Data Hokage, a tool that helps founders validate ideas and find market opportunities through automated market research.
After experiencing the pain of shutting down a previous startup due to lack of users, Sinazo built Data Hokage to solve a problem they personally faced—efficiently validating business ideas. Their waitlist has grown to nearly 200 subscribers through consistent community engagement on platforms like Reddit and Twitter.
In this interview, Sinazo shares how they bounced back from startup failure, identified a genuine market need, and leveraged online communities to build a growing waitlist without a website.
Join the waitlist for Data Hokage →
The Origin Story
Q: Could you tell me about Data Hokage and what inspired you to start it?
Before I started Data Hokage, I cofounded Lifa, which was in the health tech space. Unfortunately, even though the initial feedback about the idea was positive, we eventually had to close down because we had zero users. It was honestly heartbreaking having to have that conversation with my team. It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
It was a rough period in my life, I felt like such a failure. Even though I was feeling depressed and broken, I knew I couldn't go back to a 9-5, so I had to find an idea quickly. One that would work!
I started by taking a closer look at products that I used and liked. I read reviews on sites like Capterra, G2, Trustpilot, etc. I was trying to identify opportunities I could build on. I wanted to find a niche within an existing market. I realized that the whole process was taking too long, so I quickly built a Python script to automate the process.
The more time I spent in founder communities, the more I realized that validating ideas is a problem most of us have. That's how Data Hokage was born.
Growing the Waitlist
Q: What were your biggest challenges in building your waitlist? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was not knowing where to start. Where was I going to find people to sign up? How was I going to show value in what I was building?
Defining my user persona made it 1000% easier to find who my target customers were. I also focused less on the features and more on the pain points and desired outcome of my target users. Founders don't want to waste time building something no one wants. We all want our products to make money.
I also had to learn to get over my fear of doing things in public. Building in stealth mode is the quickest way to fail.
Q: What strategies or channels have been most effective for growing your waitlist?
Talking about what I'm building on Reddit and Twitter (X) has brought me most of my success. Being consistent has also been very helpful. Sometimes posts don't do well and the waitlist stays stagnant, but the more I post and engage, the higher the chances of success.
Currently, I'm focused on Reddit and Twitter, and I will soon add LinkedIn since I target B2B customers.
Using Waitlister
Q: How has using Waitlister helped in managing and growing your waitlist? What features have been most valuable?
Waitlister has been amazing; honestly, I don't plan on changing to another provider. For one, being able to create beautiful landing pages for my waitlist has been amazing. I didn't have a website when I started my waitlist, but Waitlister provided me with one.
Customer support's response time is amazing, which has helped me deploy quickly. Speed is important for any business. Before Waitlister, I was manually adding people who showed interest to a spreadsheet. Now I just share the URL and voila!
Exporting the waitlist to my newsletter was crazy easy. I had prepared myself for a headache, but it took me less than a minute.
Advice for Others
Q: What advice would you give to other creators just starting to build their waitlists?
Define your user persona. This will save you so much time because it means you tailor your language to your target audience. When you try to sell to everyone, you end up selling to no one. When you understand your ideal customer, sales and marketing become so much easier.
For your sanity, use a tool like Waitlister to validate whether or not people want what you're building. Most people are nice, which means when you cold call or start conversations, they'll try and tell you what they think you want to hear. Sharing a waitlist means people either sign up or they don't. No one's giving away their email that easily unless they see value in return.
Next Steps
Q: What are your next steps for Data Hokage, and how do you plan to engage with your waitlist community as you move forward?
Data Hokage's website is almost finished, so I'll be deploying that soon. I've been sending my waitlist community updates on the progress I'm making, and I plan to launch the app after Easter.
I'm also planning on building two more waitlists. I'll only buy a domain and build a landing page once the list is over 100 people signed up. That's why Waitlister's easy-to-use landing page builder is such a lifesaver.
Build Your Own Waitlist
Ready to build your own high-impact waitlist? Waitlister provides everything you need:
- Easy, customizable waitlists
- Built-in analytics
- Location tracking
- Email automation
- And more...