Guide
Building in public: what to share, and what to keep private
Updated
Building in public means sharing how you build your company as you go: your decisions, your numbers and your mistakes. It can build an audience before you launch, but it rarely brings customers quickly.
In short
- Building in public means sharing how you build your company as you go, including decisions, numbers and mistakes.
- It gives you an audience before launch and a public record, but many followers are other founders, not customers.
- A good weekly post covers one decision, one number with the reason behind it, and one thing that failed.
- Customer details, employee matters, security details and any fundraise that has not closed should stay private.
- Posting once a week on a fixed day is easier to keep up than posting every day.
What is building in public?
Building in public means showing the work behind your company while you build it, instead of only announcing results. Readers learn most from why you made a decision, not only from what happened.
- Founders post their revenue, their decisions and their mistakes on X, LinkedIn or in a newsletter. On X, many use the #buildinpublic hashtag.
- Others record a short video each week about what they built.
- Buffer, the social media scheduling company, keeps a public page at buffer.com/open with its revenue, active users and staff salaries.
- Pieter Levels, who makes Photo AI, posts his products' monthly revenue on X and on his blog.
What building in public gets you
It gets you three things, and quick customers are usually not one of them.
- If you need sales this quarter, spend the time on direct sales outreach instead.
What you get, and what you do not
| What | Do you get it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An audience before launch | Yes | People who followed the build are there on launch day |
| A weekly deadline | Yes | A public promise to post helps you finish work |
| A public record | Yes | Months of posts show buyers, hires and investors how you think |
| Customers quickly | Usually not | Many people who follow a build are other founders |
What: An audience before launch
- Do you get it?
- Yes
- Why
- People who followed the build are there on launch day
What: A weekly deadline
- Do you get it?
- Yes
- Why
- A public promise to post helps you finish work
What: A public record
- Do you get it?
- Yes
- Why
- Months of posts show buyers, hires and investors how you think
What: Customers quickly
- Do you get it?
- Usually not
- Why
- Many people who follow a build are other founders
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
What to post each week
A fixed shape makes the weekly post quick to write. Use the same three parts every week.
- For example, you could write that revenue went from $2,200 to $3,000 after you moved the yearly discount from checkout to the cancel screen.
- Write it on the same day each week, while the details are still fresh.
- The same three parts work for a written post, an email or a 90-second video.
- Post in a flat month too. Say what you expected, what happened and what you are changing.
The weekly post in three parts
| Part | What to write |
|---|---|
| One decision | What you decided this week, and why |
| One number | A number that moved, and what you think moved it |
| One thing that failed | What went wrong, and what you are changing |
Part: One decision
- What to write
- What you decided this week, and why
Part: One number
- What to write
- A number that moved, and what you think moved it
Part: One thing that failed
- What to write
- What went wrong, and what you are changing
Should you share your revenue?
You can, and many founders do. A public revenue number has upsides and costs, because anyone can read it.
- Sharing revenue makes your posts concrete and easier to trust, because readers see real numbers.
- Competitors, customers and future investors can all read it, so share only numbers you are happy for all three to see.
- If one big customer makes up most of your revenue, your number can reveal who they are and what they pay, so leave it out.
- Only share numbers you would still share in a bad quarter. If you stop posting them later, readers assume bad news.
What not to share
Keep other people's information, and anything a lawyer would worry about, out of your posts.
Keep these private
| Keep private | Why |
|---|---|
| Customer details | Never without the customer's written permission |
| Anything about an employee | They did not choose to be public, and a future employer can read it |
| Security details | Especially anything not yet fixed, because attackers read public posts too |
| A fundraise in progress | Terms, investor names and timing stay private until it has closed |
| Comments about a competitor | Only say what you would say with them in the room |
| A plan you have not decided on | People will hold you to a plan you may still drop |
Keep private: Customer details
- Why
- Never without the customer's written permission
Keep private: Anything about an employee
- Why
- They did not choose to be public, and a future employer can read it
Keep private: Security details
- Why
- Especially anything not yet fixed, because attackers read public posts too
Keep private: A fundraise in progress
- Why
- Terms, investor names and timing stay private until it has closed
Keep private: Comments about a competitor
- Why
- Only say what you would say with them in the room
Keep private: A plan you have not decided on
- Why
- People will hold you to a plan you may still drop
Where to post, and in what format
Start with text. Add video when you want people to hear how you explain your thinking.
- Text is easy to skim, search and correct. A mistake in a video stays in until you edit it again.
- Video lets people see and hear you, which a written post cannot do.
- Keep a written version of anything important, because nobody can search or skim a video.
Where founders build in public
| Channel | Format | Who reads it |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) | Short posts and threads, often tagged #buildinpublic | Other founders and tech people |
| Posts and short videos | Business buyers, hires and investors | |
| Newsletter | A longer monthly update | People who asked to hear from you |
| YouTube, TikTok and Reels | Short video updates | People who prefer to watch |
Channel: X (Twitter)
- Format
- Short posts and threads, often tagged #buildinpublic
- Who reads it
- Other founders and tech people
Channel: LinkedIn
- Format
- Posts and short videos
- Who reads it
- Business buyers, hires and investors
Channel: Newsletter
- Format
- A longer monthly update
- Who reads it
- People who asked to hear from you
Channel: YouTube, TikTok and Reels
- Format
- Short video updates
- Who reads it
- People who prefer to watch
Where Cutroom fits
If you post video updates, editing is the slow part. Cutroom does it for you.
- You upload one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes long.
- Cutroom cuts it, adds captions in one of 40 styles, puts stock clips on the words you pick and adds a headline at the start.
- You get a finished vertical (9:16) MP4 for X, LinkedIn, Reels, TikTok or Shorts.
- A 30-second update costs 110 credits. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of those updates.
- It only makes vertical video, so a long landscape YouTube update needs another tool.
- Your first video is free, with no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom watermark, which Lite removes.
Questions people ask
- What does building in public mean?
- It means sharing how you build your company while you build it. Founders post their decisions, numbers and mistakes on X, LinkedIn or a newsletter, instead of only announcing finished results.
- Does building in public actually get customers?
- Sometimes, but slowly. Many followers are other founders, so treat customers as a side effect. What it reliably gives you is an audience before launch, a weekly deadline and a public record buyers can read later.
- How often should I post when building in public?
- Once a week, on a fixed day. You can keep that up for months while you build the product, and the posts add up to a record. Daily posting is much harder to keep up.
- How much revenue detail should I share?
- Only numbers you are happy for competitors, customers and future investors to see, and would still share in a bad quarter. If you stop posting a number later, readers assume bad news.
- What should I post in a month when nothing went well?
- Exactly that, described honestly. Say what you expected, what happened, what you think caused it and what you are changing.
- What should you not share when building in public?
- Customer details without their permission, anything about an employee, security details and a fundraise that has not closed. Share your reasoning, and keep other people's information private.
- Does building in public work for B2B products?
- Yes, in a different shape. Share less revenue and more about the problem you solve and how you decide things. The person pushing for your product inside a customer company may well follow along.
Record this week's update in one short video and get it back edited and captioned. Your first video is free.
Try for freeYour first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it