Building in public means sharing your progress openly: revenue numbers, failures, decisions, all of it. Some founders swear by it, others call it a distraction. The truth is it works for specific things, and it is worth knowing which before you commit.
What building in public actually gives you
It gives you a slow compounding audience. People follow a journey, not a product page, and when you finally launch they already feel invested. It also gives you free advice. Post a hard decision and experienced founders often tell you how they handled it. And it keeps you accountable: a public promise to ship by Friday is harder to break than a private one.
What it does not give you
It does not replace distribution. A few hundred followers who enjoy your updates are not the same as customers with the problem you solve. And it does not work on a schedule. The audience compounds over months, so if you need users next week, posting your revenue graph is not the plan.
Share numbers only if you can keep sharing them
The first revenue screenshot gets attention. The fifth quiet month after it gets questions. Before you post a metric, ask whether you are willing to post it when it goes down. Consistency builds trust; a highlight reel that suddenly stops erodes it.
Pick one channel and one cadence
Founders burn out trying to post everywhere. Choose the single place where your buyers actually spend time, and a rhythm you can sustain for a year, even if that is one honest update a week. Depth in one place beats noise in five.
Keep some things private
Building in public does not mean building in a fishbowl. Keep customer names, unclosed deals, security details and your own doubts about specific people out of public view. Openness about your journey never requires exposure of other people.
A quick checklist
- Do you know which specific benefit you want: audience, advice or accountability?
- Are you willing to share your chosen metric when it drops?
- Have you picked one channel and a cadence you can hold for a year?
- Do you have a clear line for what stays private?
The takeaway
Building in public is a long game of trust, not a growth hack. Do it for the compounding audience and the free advice, keep a steady cadence, and never let it replace actually talking to customers.
When the journey produces something worth listing, submit your startup on Maidensail, or see how other founders tell their story in the registry. For the conversations that matter more than posts, read our guide on talking to your users.
