Playbooks in Progress:Behind the Scenes of Forksy's Go-to-Market Strategy

July 19, 2025

FORKSY

At Forksy, we're building a better way to answer the question, "Where should we eat?" Whether you're dining solo, with a partner, or with indecisive friends, Forksy turns decision fatigue into fun, fast matches based on shared cravings.

We haven't launched just yet—but we're pulling back the curtain and sharing exactly how we're thinking about go-to-market, step by step. This is our living playbook, built in Notion, tested in Rhode Island, and shared in real time.

📍 Step 1: Obsess Over the Problem

Before writing a single line of code, we zoomed in on one universal pain point:

Deciding where to eat is harder than it should be—especially in groups.

Most platforms hand you a long list of places. We're building Forksy to do the opposite:

Swipe through options based on cravings.
Match with your group.
Discover a spot that fits everyone's taste.

That clarity shaped how we designed the experience, the messaging, and even the features we're prioritizing for launch.

🧠 Step 2: Test the Market Before the Product

We didn't wait for launch to test demand. Instead, we built:

A lightweight landing page
A swipe-style prototype (Figma-based)
Leveraged a strong social presence on Instagram via Rhode Island Business

This helped us answer an early hypothesis:

Will people actually care?

✅ 15,000+ people joined our waitlist.

No paid ads. Just creator-driven content and word of mouth.

🤝 Step 3: Build with Locals, Not for Them

We're starting hyper-local—Rhode Island first. Why?

We can build community density.
We can test restaurant interest on a smaller scale.
We can partner directly with local creators and food lovers to co-launch the experience.

We're currently onboarding creators and restaurants into our early access program with tailored playbooks for each group.

📊 Step 4: Define the Metrics That Matter

Even pre-launch, we're tracking early signals through:

Waitlist growth (daily + by source)
Content performance (views, shares, comments)
Swipe behavior (via prototype tests)
Interest from creators and restaurants (open/click rates, meetings booked)

These metrics help us prioritize features, refine messaging, and sharpen pricing.

🧩 What We're Actively Testing

🔍 What We've Learned (So Far)

Start with emotion, not features. Users respond best to content that taps into shared pain (decision fatigue), not app specs.
Small markets are powerful. Community-focused GTM gives us richer feedback and faster iteration.
Creators want upside, not just free meals. We're building monetization into our system so local creators can earn from their influence.

🔜 What's Coming

Early access launch for iOS (Fall 2025)
Restaurant dashboards with live swipe/match insights
Creator portals with transparent metrics and payouts
A Rhode Island-wide launch party (you're invited)

👀 Follow the Build

Forksy is still in the oven, but we're sharing the journey as we go—wins, flops, feedback, all of it.