get public pledges before you launch
publish the thesis, get three or four prominent people to pledge in public, and gate signups by email to build a qualified audience.
what to do
Build the credibility before the doors open. Publish the thesis so people know what you stand for. Get three or four prominent supporters to pledge publicly, by name. Gate signups behind an email so the audience that gathers is qualified and reachable on day one.
for example
This is the shape of DeltaV Moonshots. The thesis goes out first. A few respected people pledge in public, which tells everyone else this is real. The email gate turns idle curiosity into a list of people you can actually talk to at launch. By the time it opens, there is already a crowd that believes.
the failure it prevents
Launching to silence, where the thesis is unknown, nobody credible has put their name to it, and the interest you did attract left no way to reach them.
when this doesn’t apply
If you have no thesis worth publishing yet, pledges ring hollow. Get the idea sharp enough that someone respected would stake their name on it first.