How Vlogit Got 4.7M Views But Nearly Lost Tens of Thousands of Signups
Vlogit is building the next evolution of social connection—an app designed to deepen relationships between friends, family, and couples through daily video sharing. Users create or join friend groups, and each day someone random is selected to share a short vlog of their day, bringing back that authentic, shared bonding experience that apps like BeReal once provided.
The team was inspired by BeReal's original promise but disappointed by how it fell off. They missed that daily shared moment with friends and decided to build something better themselves.
What happened next was beyond their wildest expectations. By day 3 of documenting their building journey on social media, they went absolutely viral on TikTok, racking up 4.7 million views, 600k+ likes, and 35k+ new followers across their accounts. Despite the late scramble to capture signups, they still managed to convert over 2,000 people to their waitlist.
But with great virality came a painful lesson about timing that cost them potentially tens of thousands more signups.
The Power of Building in Public
Vlogit's growth strategy was refreshingly simple: document their building journey on social media and provide genuine value to viewers along the way.
"Social media - every video we make and post now gets signups to the waitlist, especially with a call to action," the team explains. Their approach focused on authentic storytelling rather than polished marketing content.
The key was offering real value to their audience beyond just asking for signups. They promised waitlist members exclusive beta access and eventual entry to a private Discord community—giving people something concrete to look forward to.
This authentic approach to building in public resonated powerfully with their audience, leading to explosive organic growth that most startups can only dream of.
The Million-Dollar Timing Mistake
Despite their viral success, Vlogit made a costly error that serves as a crucial lesson for other founders: they didn't have their waitlist ready when lightning struck.
"Not creating a waitlist early enough if posting on social media," they identify as their biggest mistake. "We made the waitlist near the end of the videos virality, costing us thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of signups."
The team watched in real-time as their content exploded across TikTok, but they had no way to capture the interest of the hundreds of thousands of viewers who wanted to try their product. By the time they scrambled to get a waitlist up, much of the viral momentum had already passed.
"You never know when people are going to move their attention to you, so be prepared," they emphasize. This hard-learned lesson highlights a critical principle: viral moments are unpredictable and fleeting, so having your capture mechanisms ready before you need them is essential. As our guide on why your product launch needs a waitlist explains, waitlists aren't just nice-to-have tools—they're mission-critical infrastructure.
Racing Against Time with Waitlister
When Vlogit realized they needed a waitlist immediately, they turned to Waitlister for its speed and simplicity.
"As we were scrambling to build out a waitlist, I looked up any tool that would be fastest. When I saw waitlister had drag and drop functionality I was sold instantly," they share.
The drag-and-drop interface allowed them to get a professional waitlist up and running in minutes rather than hours or days. While they acknowledge their initial design was rushed due to the time pressure, they appreciated that Waitlister made it easy to iterate and improve later.
The analytics features proved valuable when presenting metrics to potential investors, giving them concrete data to show the momentum behind their viral success.
Advice from the Viral Trenches
Based on their whirlwind experience, Vlogit offers practical advice for other founders building waitlists:
"Firstly just get something up. Designing through the drag and drop interface is very simple. Once you get the ball rolling you can focus on specific design details later."
They stress that perfect design shouldn't prevent you from launching. The most important thing is giving potential users a way to stay connected with your product development.
Their second key piece of advice centers on value: "Offer value to your users. It can't just be a waitlist with no advantage - give them something to look forward to when receiving their first emails from the waitlist, such as private access to something such as a beta or a discord."
Key Takeaways
Vlogit's story offers several crucial lessons for startup founders, especially those planning to build in public or use social media for growth.
Always be ready for virality: You can't predict when your content will explode, so have your capture mechanisms ready before you start promoting. A waitlist should be one of the first things you build, not one of the last.
Building in public works: Authentic storytelling about your startup journey can generate massive organic reach. Document your process, share your challenges, and invite people along for the ride.
Speed beats perfection: When opportunity strikes, getting something functional up quickly is more important than having perfect design. You can always iterate and improve later.
Provide real value: Don't just ask people to join a waitlist—give them concrete benefits like beta access, exclusive content, or community membership that make signing up feel valuable.
Use the right tools: When you're racing against time, drag-and-drop tools can mean the difference between capturing viral momentum and watching it slip away.
For social app founders specifically, Vlogit's experience shows that there's still appetite for authentic connection tools that improve on what came before. The key is being ready to capture interest when your audience finds you—unlike Stagewise's approach, which had their referral system ready from day one.
Build Your Own Waitlist
Don't make Vlogit's costly timing mistake. Get your waitlist ready before you need it with Waitlister.
- Drag-and-drop interface for instant setup
- Built-in analytics
- Email automation for nurturing signups
- Easy integration with your existing site
- And more...