The interesting thing about a waitlist is that it can measure excitement, but not necessarily commitment. Someone can join a list because the product sounds interesting and then completely forget about it a week later.

What I’d be more curious about is whether you can create a “soft waitlist” after launching. Let people use the product immediately, but give early users a reason to stay involved early access to features, a small community, or even direct conversations with the team. That way you get the speed of launching publicly while still building the community and anticipation a traditional waitlist was supposed to create.