Playbook · Idea / prototype to Searching (pre-PMF)
Idea and Searching × Discover
Earn first tries without buying traffic: a real waitlist, a one-image mission people can retell, personal asks from the founder, and an informative sample of the value before sign-up.
- M0 Idea / prototype
- Is there a real itch, felt often enough?
- M1 Searching (pre-PMF)
- Who, if anyone, is it a must-have for?
- Discover
- Why would the right people try it?
M0-M1 × Discover
The playbook
Goal. First tries from the right people, at a volume the founder can still talk to.
Moves. A waitlist with real positions and real capacity INF-T-SP-06 (Influence Ch.4, p.90); a one-image mission and a premise people retell GT#10 (Actionable Gamification Ch.5, p.80); the founder asking early fans personally INF-T-LK-01 (Influence Ch.5, p.126); an informative sample of the value before sign-up INF-T-RC-01 (Influence Ch.2, p.17) and experience over persuasion HK-ACT20 (Hooked Ch.3).
Watch. If Value is binding, only these moves are in season on the Discover side. Message tests need traffic you don't have yet.
Lead with these moves
- TechniqueEvidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.
Real waitlist with real positions
honest waitlist
Before launch, or while capacity is truly limited, run a waitlist that shows each person's real position and the real count, and let members share invites. Visible demand is social proof; a line kept long on purpose with room inside is a fake cue that people eventually see through.
- TechniqueEvidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.
Narrative (GT#10)
story-framed purpose
Wrap the product's actions in a short story that gives them a larger purpose, so ordinary steps feel like part of a mission. Chou's version is one striking image and one line at first launch, kept alive in later phases instead of parked on an About page.
- TechniqueEvidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.
Ask through someone they know
friend or founder as the asker
Route the ask through a person the prospect knows and likes: early on, the founder asking people personally; later, a team admin inviting colleagues, a host or creator selling to their audience, a friend's group-buy link. People say yes to people, and refusing a friend feels different from refusing a company.
Also in season
- Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.Value before the askgive first, then ask
- Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.Value before sign-up: let people try the coretry before registering
- Evidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.Real waitlists with real positionshonest staged access
Not now
- Scale paid acquisitionPaid traffic into a product that doesn't keep people yet just fills a leaky bucket.
- Small copy or button A/B testsAt your volume a small tweak would take months to read.
- Two-sided referral programReferral programs amplify love that isn't there yet.
- Cash bounty per inviteSmall cash rewards can backfire; make the reward more of the product.
- Limited-time discounts to convertDiscounts pull in buyers who leave when the discount ends.
How to measure it
Questions to answer first
- Where do people first hear about you, and what makes them curious enough to try it?
- Could a happy user explain what your product is for in one sentence a friend would remember?
- Pick the most recent customer who switched to you from something else. What was going on for them right before they began searching?
- What value does a visitor get before you ask for an email or a card, and after how many steps?
- Can people get real value from the product before they have to create an account?
- What worries stop visitors from trying (setup effort, cost, data, getting locked in), and what would remove each one?
- If you shut down tomorrow, who would be genuinely upset, and how many such customers could you name?
Limits
What we don’t claim
- The Hook Model is a practical design tool, not a validated or complete theory of behavior.Hooked, Introduction
- Octalysis is a practitioner framework built from observing games, not a validated scientific model.Actionable Gamification Ch.15, pp.399-400
- Seasons are defaults for the cell. Evidence from your own product can move a technique in or out of season.
- A playbook names candidate moves; which one goes first depends on the binding constraint in your product.
Sources
Influence · Robert Cialdini
Ch.4, p.90 · Ch.5, p.126 · Ch.2, p.17
Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou
Ch.5, p.80
Hooked · Nir Eyal
Ch.7 · Ch.3
Source IDs: INF-T-SP-06GT#10INF-T-LK-01INF-T-RC-01HK-ACT40HK-ACT20
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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