Building in Public: What to Share and What to Hold

The tension of the blank page, the quiet hum of a new idea taking shape—it's a familiar feeling for any founder. But what if that early, vulnerable stage wasn't so private? Building in public is the practice of openly sharing your startup's journey, from nascent ideas and early struggles to product roadmaps and revenue milestones, inviting your audience into the very DNA of your company. It's a spectrum, not a single decision, meaning some founders share everything from churn rates to daily progress updates, while others narrate the process without revealing sensitive details.

The Spectrum of Building in Public

Building in public isn't a rigid dogma but a flexible strategy, ranging from highly transparent to more narrative-driven sharing. It's about finding the right balance for your startup, inviting an audience into your founder journey without necessarily revealing every single detail. For some indie hackers, this might mean full transparency, openly sharing monthly recurring revenue (MRR), churn rates, or detailed product roadmap priorities. This level of startup transparency fosters deep trust and accountability.

However, many founders opt for a more curated approach. Common examples of what to share include regular progress updates and lessons learned on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or niche Reddit communities. You might publish your product roadmap, detailing feature experiments, or openly discuss early mistakes and pivots. Documenting customer feedback and explaining how it shapes your decisions is another powerful way to engage your audience and build your brand. Sharing behind-the-scenes culture—perhaps a screenshot of a messy whiteboard sketch or a post about a tricky internal debate—humanizes your brand and makes your process relatable. While revenue sharing can be a strong credibility signal, particularly for early-stage companies, most founders still draw boundaries, especially around sensitive financial data or details of significant failures. The key is consistent, authentic engagement, showing up regularly even if it’s just a quick thought or progress update, to build momentum and foster a loyal community.

Why Founders Embrace Public Building

Imagine launching a product into a void, hoping someone, somewhere, notices. That's the traditional path, often fraught with silence. Building in public flips this on its head, turning the development journey itself into a powerful marketing and learning engine. For early-stage companies, this transparency offers distinct advantages. One of the biggest boons is distribution. By consistently sharing progress, even small updates on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), founders generate interest long before a finished product exists. This audience, nurtured over time, can convert into early users, partners, or even vocal advocates.

Beyond marketing, there's a significant learning advantage. Publicly articulating your vision and challenges invites external feedback, surfacing blind spots you might otherwise miss. While not all input is gold, critical insights can sharpen your thinking and product direction. This open dialogue also fosters deep trust and accountability. When founders share their real numbers—be it monthly recurring revenue (MRR), user metrics, or even struggles—it builds a credibility that traditional marketing struggles to replicate. This authenticity humanizes the brand, making it feel less like a faceless corporation and more like a founder's personal journey. It’s a powerful form of brand building, allowing potential customers to emotionally invest in your success. This organic engagement creates a support network and often leads to your first customers and referral sources, proving that showing your work, not just your wins, resonates deeply.

What to Share: Fueling Your Founder Journey

Navigating the waters of what to share and what to hold back can feel like a constant balancing act for founders. It’s not about revealing every secret, but rather strategically opening up to build trust and momentum. Think of it as writing your autobiography one post at a time, attracting like-minded people into your orbit.

Here's a breakdown of what founders often share to fuel their journey:

• Progress Updates & Lessons Learned: Regularly sharing small wins, ongoing tasks, or even the occasional setback on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or niche Reddit communities keeps your audience engaged. Documenting customer feedback and explaining how it shapes your decisions is a powerful way to demonstrate responsiveness and build a better product.
• Product Roadmaps & Feature Experiments: While not promising hard deadlines, discussing where your product is headed invites feedback and shows your priorities. If plans shift, simply communicate the change. This transparency around your product roadmap builds anticipation and allows your audience to feel invested in its evolution.
• Behind-the-Scenes Culture & Process: Humanize your brand by offering glimpses into how you work. This could be a screenshot of a messy whiteboard sketch, a post about a tricky internal debate, or even how you structure your day as a solo founder. These unpolished insights make your process feel real and relatable, fostering a sense of connection.
• Personal Experiences & Mindset Shifts: Sharing your personal founder journey, including hard decisions, mistakes caught late, or new paradigms encountered outside of entrepreneurship, resonates deeply. People connect with authenticity and often find more engagement in your struggles than in a highlight reel of successes. This also helps build your personal brand and positions you as a thought leader.
• Revenue Milestones (with caution): Posting revenue growth can be a strong credibility signal, particularly for early-stage companies or indie hackers. However, many founders draw boundaries around sensitive financial data. If you choose to share, be truthful and avoid inflating numbers.

The key is consistent, authentic engagement. Show up regularly, even if it's just a quick thought, to build momentum and foster a loyal community around your early-stage company.

What to Hold Back: Protecting Your Startup

As founders, we often feel the pull to share everything, to lay bare our journey for the sake of authenticity and audience engagement. But imagine revealing your secret sauce – that unique algorithm or groundbreaking feature – only to see a competitor launch a similar product, having skipped all your hard-won mistakes. This isn't just a hypothetical; it's a real risk when building in public.

To safeguard your early-stage company, certain information is best kept private or shared retrospectively, once the dust has settled. This includes:

• Proprietary Technology and Core IP: Avoid detailing your tech stack, specific algorithms, or unique intellectual property (IP) that gives you a competitive edge. Sharing too much about how your product works at a granular level can make it easier for copycats to replicate your efforts, potentially allowing them to bypass your development struggles and launch a competing product.
• Security Vulnerabilities: Disclosing details about your security infrastructure, specific mistakes that led to a breach, or even the exact location of your development team can expose you to significant risks. Information in the wrong hands can lead to real-world security issues.
• Sensitive Financial Details: While sharing revenue milestones can build credibility, exercise caution with highly sensitive financial data like exact churn rates, detailed expense breakdowns, or specific investor terms. This level of detail isn't typically necessary for audience engagement and can be exploited.
• Future Strategic Moves: Your next big pivot, an upcoming acquisition target, or a significant, unannounced partnership should remain confidential until it's a done deal. "Loose lips sink ships," and sharing too much too soon can jeopardize deals or give competitors a heads-up. Retrospective sharing, once the strategy has played out, is often the safer approach.

Decide what you will and won't share before you start building in public. This intentional boundary-setting protects your startup while still allowing you to foster trust and accountability with your audience.

Platforms and Authenticity in Public Building

Choosing the right platforms for building in public is crucial for strategic sharing and audience engagement. While the indie hacker community often gravitates towards X (formerly Twitter) for its real-time updates and direct founder-to-founder interaction, other channels offer distinct advantages. For instance, niche Reddit communities can provide blunt, invaluable feedback and early users, though the effort required is medium for potentially high payoff. Similarly, platforms like Indie Hackers foster peer advice and accountability.

Beyond these, maker Discords and Slacks, especially those focused on indie development or specific tools, reward regular participation with high-quality advice and meaningful relationships. However, these communities require you to be a participant, not just a promoter. For major product launches, Hacker News (via "Show HN") and Product Hunt are ideal for generating a significant traffic spike and attracting a technical audience, but they demand a polished product ready for scrutiny. Regardless of the platform, authenticity is paramount. As Arvid Kahl emphasizes, "Be truthful." Don't inflate numbers; in a world full of empty promises, honesty builds trust and stands out, making your brand building efforts more effective. This transparency helps foster a loyal community around your early-stage company.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Building in public is a powerful strategy for early-stage companies, fostering trust, attracting early adopters, and gathering invaluable feedback. By carefully selecting what to share and what to hold back, and by maintaining authenticity across all platforms, founders can cultivate a loyal community and accelerate their growth. The key lies in transparent communication and strategic platform engagement.

Sources & References

• Building in public: Is this the right approach for your startup?
• Building in Public: What to Share at Which Stage of Your Journey – The Bootstrapped Founder
• How do I actually build in public? : r/startups
• The Case for Building in Public: A Founder's Guide
• Build in Public
• Building In Public 101 - by KP - Build In Public Newsletter
• Should you build in public? - Jodie Cook
• Build in Public on X (Twitter): What It Means and Why It Matters | OpenTweet
• Where to share what you’re building — an honest guide — What Are You Building
• Build in Public Guide - Start, share, learn, and keep shipping