The Principles of Building in Public
The Power of Building in Public: How Transparency Can Boost Your Success
Building in public is a practice where entrepreneurs, developers, and creators share the progress, successes, and challenges of their projects transparently with an audience, typically on social media or blogs. This approach, increasingly popular in the tech and startup world, creates an authentic connection with followers, customers, and supporters. Here are the core principles of building in public:
Radical Transparency
At the heart of building in public is transparency. This involves sharing not only successes but also failures, challenges, and mistakes. By doing so, creators build trust and authenticity with their audience. People are drawn to the journey, not just the destination. They want to see the highs and lows, learn from the process, and feel like they are part of something real.
Transparency doesn’t mean oversharing confidential or sensitive information. Instead, it’s about sharing meaningful updates, revealing insights into the process, and giving an honest look at how things are going behind the scenes.
Example:
A startup founder might post on social media about missing a key growth target but then outline the lessons learned and the adjustments being made to recover. This honesty makes the audience more likely to root for the founder, understanding that failure is part of success.
Engage and Involve the Community
Building in public turns the audience from passive observers into active participants. By sharing updates and asking for feedback, creators can involve the community in the decision-making process. This not only strengthens the bond between the creator and the community but can also lead to better products and services, as feedback often surfaces ideas and improvements that wouldn’t have emerged in isolation.
Example:
A developer building a new app could share early mockups, invite users to beta test, or even run polls asking followers to vote on new features or designs.
Embrace Accountability
When you build in public, your progress is out in the open, which inherently increases accountability. This can be both a motivator and a source of discipline for creators. Regularly sharing updates creates a sense of responsibility to the audience. It also forces you to think critically about each step of the process, ensuring that decisions and pivots are well-reasoned, as they’re being scrutinized in real-time.
Example:
A solopreneur working on an online course may set a public deadline for launch. Knowing that their audience is expecting updates can help keep them on track.
Celebrate Small Wins
Building in public encourages creators to recognize and celebrate progress, even if it’s small. It’s easy to get lost in the pursuit of the end goal, but sharing milestones along the way helps to keep the momentum going. These small wins, when shared, can energize both the creator and the audience, showing that progress is being made.
Example:
A startup founder might share hitting the first 100 customers or the first $1,000 in revenue as a significant step in the journey, acknowledging it as an important moment worth celebrating.
Provide Value at Every Step
Building in public is not just about sharing updates. It’s about offering value to your audience. This can be in the form of educational insights, actionable takeaways, or simply entertaining stories. By doing this, you’re not just documenting a process — you’re creating content that benefits others.
Example:
A designer might share lessons learned about working with clients, including tips for effective communication or how to handle difficult project revisions. This content not only builds trust but positions the designer as a knowledgeable resource.
Be Open to Vulnerability
Sharing the ups and downs of your journey often means being vulnerable. It’s easy to share successes, but building in public requires the courage to show imperfections. Being open about your struggles, mistakes, or doubts humanizes the process and makes it relatable. Vulnerability fosters deeper connections because it resonates with people who are going through similar challenges.
Example:
An entrepreneur might share about the anxiety of not making enough sales or the fear of their startup failing. By doing so, they show that they are human, just like their audience.
Adapt and Iterate Based on Feedback
One of the key advantages of building in public is the immediate feedback loop. You can share your progress and get real-time reactions and suggestions from your audience. This creates a dynamic environment where you can quickly adapt and iterate based on insights that arise. It’s a collaborative way to build, where the creator and audience co-create the final product or service.
Example:
A SaaS company may share a new feature rollout and receive feedback that it’s not user-friendly. This feedback allows the company to iterate on the design before it goes into full production.
Show Your Personality
Building in public allows creators to show their personality. Whether through tweets, videos, or blog posts, the voice behind the project becomes as important as the project itself. Audiences connect with people, not just products or companies. By being yourself, showing your quirks, humor, or unique perspective, you can build a more loyal and engaged community.
Example:
A founder with a witty sense of humor might use lighthearted posts and memes to engage their audience, making the journey fun and relatable, rather than purely transactional.
Conclusion: The Power of Building in Public
Building in public is more than a marketing strategy — it’s a philosophy. It transforms the traditional, behind-closed-doors process of building a business or product into an open, community-driven journey. By embracing transparency, engagement, accountability, and vulnerability, creators foster deeper relationships with their audience, learn and adapt faster, and ultimately build products that resonate more deeply with the people they serve.
