How I got my first waitlist request before even launching a landing page

Hello everyone,
I'm Tony, and I just started my second bootstrapped project (the first one sank like a stone in a swamp). This is the week 1 post for my journey.

First off, I’m not building a product — I’m building for a market.
Basically I’m targeting small and mid-sized online businesses — the kind doing $250+ in recurring revenue and run by tech-savvy folks solving real problems. Why? Because I like these people and I want to build tools they actually want to use.

The Idea (or lack of one... yet)
Right now, I’m exploring “trust-based marketing” as a direction. No finished product, no clear feature set. Just a space I want to play in.

I’m treating this like a startup version of method acting: fully immerse in the market, talk to people, watch how they buy/sell, and let the pain points lead the build.

What I Did This Week
Not much time (just 4 hours total), but here’s what I got done:

• Bought a domain
• Set up nginx
• Built the skeleton of a site using FastAPI + PostgreSQL

Small steps, but it’s moving.

The Highlight (and a Mistake)
I posted it casually on Bluesky. And someone replied with , “Do u have a landing page or waitlist?” basically followed by a "Add me to it"

Problem:
I didn’t have a waitlist.
Or even a landing page.
So I DM’d him and promised to add them when I have one. Lesson learned.

I should’ve had a way to capture interest on day one.

Tools I Used
• FastAPI
• PostgreSQL
• Nginx

Keeping it lightweight and familiar for now. I have extensive experience with fastapi now and a lot of code already done.

What’s Next (Week 2)
• Build a simple landing page
• Add a waitlist form
• Mock up the first version of the product idea.

If someone asks to be added to a waitlist, I should probably... have one.

Key Takeaways
• I guess talk about your work early. One post brought at least an interested person.
• Always be ready to catch interest. Even a Typeform or Notion form is better than “DM me later.”
• Start with people, not features. The market is the product for now.

Curious if anyone else has taken this “market-first” approach — how did you validate before building?