Launch a founding membership with a waiting list and a countdown

A founding membership is a limited number of seats at a launch price, opened at a time you choose, with a waiting list people can join first. It works because scarcity is real and visible: the page counts the seats left, the people who joined the list are told once the moment it opens, and the first fifty or hundred members feel they were early. Mosey runs the list, the countdown and the notification; you choose the seats, the price and the day.

Why launch with a founding run?

A membership with no members looks empty, and nobody wants to be first. A founding run changes the question from "do I want this?" to "do I want one of the fifty?". It gives your best regulars a reason to act now, a story to tell friends, and a price that rewards their faith. It also caps your risk: if the plan turns out to be too generous, you have fifty members to fix it with, not five hundred.

Be honest in the offer. If the founding price stays the same for as long as they are a member, say so, and keep your word.

How do you set it up?

In the plan editor, choose the Founding member template or switch on the founding option on any plan.

1. Set the seats. A founding plan always has a limit. The page shows how many are left.
2. Set the price and terms. Use the margin check from the pricing guide.
3. Choose when it opens. Leave the time empty to open now, or schedule an opening up to a limited time ahead. Opening is decided on the server's clock, and the countdown that the app and website show counts the server's seconds, so a phone with the wrong time still agrees with everyone else.
4. Switch on the waiting list. Before the opening, people can join the list from the app or your join link.

Once members have joined, the seat count and the launch time are fixed, so set them with care.

What does the waiting list do?

It gathers interest before you open and tells people exactly once. When the time arrives, each person on the list gets a push and an email saying the plan is open, once, and nothing else is ever sent from the list. If they have already joined, they are not told again. A person can leave the list, and being on the list is not a commitment to buy.

The list also tells you something useful: how many people wanted in. A list of thirty for fifty seats says your price is right; a list of two hundred for fifty says you could have charged more or opened a second run.

What happens when two people reach for the last seat?

Seats are claimed carefully. When someone starts to join, the system holds a seat for ten minutes while they enter their card, counts live members and other people's holds, and releases it if they give up or the payment fails. Two people cannot both take the last seat, and nobody is charged for a seat that is gone.

A gift membership is the one exception: it is delivered later, so a gifted seat is a soft limit, and a plan can end up slightly over its cap by the number of gifts in flight. If a hard cap matters to you, stop offering gifts for the plan until the run is full.

How do you promote the run?

Start two weeks before the opening. Put a notice at the till, tell your regulars in person, and post the join link wherever your guests find you. Send a member letter to people who already hold another plan. Share the waiting-list link and the opening time, and say how many seats there are. On the day, post the countdown; as the seats go, post that too.

Do not discount the founding price later to fill the last seats. It teaches the first members that they were not special.

What can go wrong?

• Opening at the wrong hour. Choose a time when your own team is free to answer questions, not Sunday at midnight.
• Too few seats. A run that sells out in a minute makes the late arrivals feel shut out. Think about opening a second small run for the people on the list who missed it.
• Promising what you cannot deliver. If founding members get a free monthly event place, make sure the events exist. Check the calendar before you write the perk.
• A launch price that breaks the margin. Run the margin check at the founding price, not the future one.
• Silence after joining. The first fortnight decides whether a member feels looked after. Send a welcome letter and invite them in person.

What do you do after it fills?

Say thank you, publicly. Introduce the standard plan at its normal price, with the same perks, and tell the founding members what they keep. Review the margin after a month with real numbers. The profitability card shows what members spend against what they cost you. If demand justifies it, run a second founding run on a different plan, such as a family plan.

Read the membership overview for the wider picture, the loyalty guide if you want a free tier beneath the paid one, and pricing for the rates.