Early traction without revenue: How to use waitlists, pilots, and LOIs to convince investors

“Do you have any traction?”

If you’re at the pre-seed stage, this question can feel like a trap. You might not have revenue. You might just be launching. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have traction worth showing.

The best early-stage founders don’t wait for revenue, they frame demand early and clearly.

In this post, we’ll break down how to use waitlists, pilot customers, and letters of intent (LOIs) to signal traction to investors even before you’ve started charging.

Why early traction matters (even without revenue)

Investors don’t expect a polished growth engine at pre-seed. But they do want to see signs that:

• You’ve validated real customer pain
• People care enough to try or commit
• You know how to generate and capture demand

Your job is to frame those early signals clearly and credibly.

1. Waitlists: turning interest into a signal

Why it works:
Waitlists show there’s real curiosity and they’re especially useful for B2C, community-led, or product-led models.

How to make waitlists credible:

• Include # of signups (and % from referrals or shares if impressive)
• Track signups over time to show growing interest
• Add qualitative feedback or user quotes (“Can’t wait to try this!”)

Investor framing tip:
Don’t just say “500 signups”, say:

“We have a 500+ person waitlist with 28% referred by other signups. We’re releasing in waves based on use case.”

Capwave tip: Use this in your traction slide and/or investor updates to keep momentum warm.

2. Pilots and betas: early engagement you can measure

Why it works:
Pilots prove someone is willing to test your solution, often with time, data, or internal support, even if no money has changed hands yet. In contrast, a beta tests whether the product itself is usable, reliable, and ready to scale with a broader audience.

How to Set Up a Pilot or Beta

• Define a clear scope and timeframe
  E.g., “30-day onboarding with 2 design partners”

• Capture user feedback, engagement, and outcomes
  Track what’s working, what’s not, and how users interact with the product.

• Frame results in terms of value delivered or insights gained
  Highlight business impact (for pilots) or product improvements (for betas).

Investor framing tip:
Highlight what you’re learning and how it leads to paid adoption. Example:

“Our 2-week pilot with [Company] reduced their manual task load by 40%. We’re now discussing a 3-month paid test.”

Bonus: Mention how many pilots are in flight or queued up to show scalability.

3. Letters of Intent (LOIs): pre-sales that build conviction (B2B)

Why it works:
LOIs show that customers aren’t just curious, they’re committed to buying once certain conditions are met.

What to include in an LOI:

• What they’re agreeing to (e.g. pricing, rollout date, deliverables)
• What the trigger is (e.g. product milestone, funding)
• Signature and title of the signer

Investor framing tip:
Even 2–3 strong LOIs from real customers can validate pricing and GTM assumptions.

“We’ve secured 3 LOIs from design partners representing $72K in projected ARR pending MVP completion.”

Capwave tip: Upload these as part of your data room materials to support your traction story during diligence.

Common mistakes founders make with early traction

🚫 Only mentioning numbers without framing them
🚫 Treating traction as “binary” (revenue or nothing)
🚫 Not asking users for soft commitments (like a pilot, referral, or LOI)
🚫 Skipping documentation: if it’s not in writing, it’s not real

Final Thoughts: build a traction story, not just metrics

Early traction is about demonstrating signal, not perfection.

If you can show that people want what you’re building, and are willing to wait, test, or commit, you’ll earn investor interest even before revenue hits.

Capwave helps you highlight these signals in the right way:
-Refine your pitch deck’s traction slide
-Curate personalized lists of best-fit investors

📈 Start turning early interest into investor-ready traction with Capwave.