Building an AI Product in Public — Without Falling Into the Hype Trap
Hey Indie Hackers 👋
I’m Julien, founder of Linkeme, a SaaS that automates social media content using multiple LLMs, visual generation, and multi-platform scheduling.
Yes — it’s powered by AI.
But I try very hard not to lead with that.
Because let’s be honest:
AI is exciting.
AI is everywhere.
But for users? AI is not a goal.
They want results. They want relief. They want rhythm.
They don’t care if it’s GPT-4, Claude, or a hamster on a keyboard — as long as their LinkedIn gets consistent, quality posts.
So here’s my challenge:
I want to build in public.
I want to show how we use AI.
But I don’t want to fall into the “look what we can prompt!” rabbit hole.
I’m trying to talk about:
What it enables (calm content planning)
What it removes (cognitive load)
What it doesn’t pretend to do (replace your brand voice)
Some tactics I’m using:
✅ Sharing feature outcomes, not LLM tricks
✅ Letting the product speak through examples
✅ Avoiding buzzwords like “agents,” “AGI,” or “superintelligence”
✅ Focusing on boring, real use cases — like saving 3 hours/week
It’s not viral.
It’s not loud.
But I’m betting on trust over traction — and slowly building something people actually stick with.
Question for you:
If you’re building with AI:
How do you talk about it without overselling it?
Do you educate? Abstract? Hide it completely?
Have you ever lost trust because of AI over-marketing?
I’d love to hear what balance worked for you.
Julien
Your post really resonates with me. I’ve been working on a tool where users practice interviews by answering out loud and get quick AI feedback. It’s been easy to fall into the trap of adding more and more features, but some of the best experiences actually come from doing less.
I haven’t lost trust from over-marketing, but I think people have lost attention. People seem to tune out fast when things sound too magical or abstract.
I’m curious how you think about measuring success when lower activity can mean things are going well?
It's refreshing to see someone lead with outcomes instead of AI buzzwords! We’ve had the same dilemma building our own tools anwering to how do you showcase the power of AI without making it the headline?
For us, it’s been about clarity: help people solve real problems. It’ is..... knowing what problem you’re trying to solve.
thanks for your message, it's always a difficult part !
Hi. I feel your pain. We are building with AI (or I'd say leveraging AI to help us), and it's hard to not sound like everyone else. The market is flooded with stories of AI. I'm trying to position my company by using plain language (as much as I can) about the problem we're solving and the benefits we provide. The AI is "there" but I'm trying to position it as an afterthought. Noone actually cares about the AI itself (at least that's what I think). They care about having their pains solved and positive outcomes. But yeah it's hard....