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If you don't build in public, you're wasting your time

During this past month, I've been thinking about building my first product.

I've read a lot of articles about tips, strategies, and founder stories in an attempt to achieve success on my first try.

That's when I discovered that not building in public is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot.

Like any novice creator, I had my doubts about the "dangers" of building in public, but after consuming as much content as I could on the topic, I countered my concerns myself.

Here are the counterarguments I came up with:

Someone will steal my idea while I share my progress

The reality is that no one will steal your idea until you've launched the product and proven that it generates money. Before that, the only people you'll attract are those interested in following your progress and potential customers who want to use your product when it's released.

Sure, there are people out there who make crude copies of successful projects. But they operate under the mentality of minimum effort.

If they're lazy enough to copy projects instead of developing their own ideas, what makes you think they'll copy you from the beginning? Their mentality of minimum effort makes them copy only what has already proven to yield results.

Well, maybe they won't steal my idea at first, but when its success is proven, many will come to copy me

If your idea is successful, there will undoubtedly be copies, some better and others worse. But what product doesn't have competition? It's naive to believe that you'll monopolize the market permanently.

That doesn't happen, especially in the world of digital products. In the end, every sufficiently good product will receive the market share it deserves.

A copy of my product will have more success than me; if the total success isn't mine, it won't belong to anyone

If you start a project with this premise, it means you don't want to create it because it truly excites you.

It means you're not seeing the benefits of creating the project regardless of whether it fails or succeeds.

You're not thinking about everything you'll learn by doing it, the community you can build, how well-prepared you'll be for your next projects when you launch them, or the opportunity to add it to your portfolio of completed projects.

If someone else working on a similar idea or copying yours demotivates you, you shouldn't have started building it in the first place. What should motivate you to create the product is that you are the person creating it, that you're genuinely interested in solving that problem you discovered in your own way.

If you choose the right product for yourself, it doesn't matter how many copies arise

You must choose the project you create correctly. It should be one that you have a personal interest in. This will give you an invaluable competitive advantage because you will know better than anyone else how to differentiate your product from others.

That's something no one can steal from you—the interest and direction you want to give to your idea. Regardless of the features they may copy, you will always know how to continue refining your product and will want to keep working on it.

Building in public only increases your chances of success and saves you time

As I was able to verify in @SimonHoiberg video (https://youtu.be/nsm7sgSRD84), the common denominator among the majority of successful indie hackers is that they have shared their projects from an early stage. This is not an opinion; it's a fact.

So, with my previous counterarguments and the success stories of other indie hackers, I can confidently say that building in public has only advantages because:

  1. If your idea is not really good, you will discover it by not receiving interest from the people you present your project to. Therefore, you can make the decision to abandon it without having to work on it for months and wait until the day of the launch to find out.
  2. If your idea has potential, you will discover it through the audience you begin to attract, who can provide feedback that allows you to make changes or pivot towards a better solution.

For all of the above, in the coming weeks, I will start documenting the development of my first product because I don't want to waste my time building something that is not genuinely useful to anyone :) and with this post I want to encourage everyone to do the same.

  1. 32

    "If you don't build in public you're wasting your time" must be one of the worse takes on here.
    99% of the times (especially if you don't have an audience) it's WAY better to dedicate the time to run some actual marketing strategies.

    Building in public only attracts other indie hackers and developers, if your ICP totally different, then doing it is a completely faulty marketing strategy.

    1. 9

      Totally agree. Building in public is one big circklejerk. "Founders" with 50 followers on Twitter liking and commenting on each other posts to gain traction. Pathetic.

      1. 1

        That's right, if you build in front of the wrong audience and don't share the right information to get valuable feedback to improve your product you're going to waste a lot of time and effort.

        It think it is important for founders to differentiate between BIP in front of other indie hackers to grow their network (if that what they want) or to BIP in front of your real audience to get useful feedback

        1. 2

          The only people who give a shit about "building in public" are other builders.

          BIP is a joke.

    2. 4

      Agreed. At best, it's misguided engagement-bait posed with unearned certainty.

      The really unfortunate thing is that it's one of the most active recent posts on IH, and emblematic of 90% of the threads on here.

    3. 2

      I just saw the post and I am glad someone called that out.

      If you don't like to share your progress, if you rather use that time and focus on building, then just build.

      Find your own recipe for success that puts what you like and dislike doing in the balance and enjoy the ride!

    4. 1

      Unless the target of your product are exactly those profiles : )

    5. 1

      Totally agree with that comment

    6. 1

      How would you suggest to get the exposure in the beginning?

    7. 1

      I understand your point and as I mentioned in a comment in this post, building in public can be a huge expenditure of energy and time.

      That's why it is necessary to think well in front of which audience you are going to build. As some comments mentioned, building in front of other indie hackers won't do you any good if they are not the target audience of your project.

      Building in front of other indie hackers serves more than anything else to create relationships with other founders or maybe receive technical help.

  2. 5

    I definitely disagree with this! Build in public can be more of a distraction as you worry too much about the update that you need to post than the quality of the product that you are building

    1. 1

      Do you mean because it takes time to produce it?
      About the quality issue, I'd have the opposite opinion. When you record videos or show screenshots of your product to an audience I'd say naturally you'll focus on making the product looks good and have a good user experience.
      What you would feel is "acceptable" when testing the product might look buggy in a video and you'll have to correct it.

    2. 1

      I consider it definitely worthless if you build in front of the wrong audience, but if you build and present your product to your main public (users) at the early stage it could be really useful.

  3. 3

    My business partner and I realized this a few weeks. The true value of building in public is actually insane. From even a generic content creation standpoint, we got so much interest from both clients and consumers. It’s literally free so why not use it. Like you mentioned, people are gonna copy regardless of if your public or not so why not say F it and go for it

    1. 1

      Yeah, that's exactly what I told to my cofunder. It's a no brainer to not build in public from the start because at the end the project is going to be public anyways. Why not taking advantage from the satrt

      1. 2

        There is significant difference between revealing the actual product and revealing the steps you took to build it / make it work. Coke's actual product is in the public domain...but doesn't mean I can reproduce it. If your product is successful - revealing the steps you took to make it work, depending on the domain/complexity, actually gives away a lot more information than just revealing the final product and focusing on how to use it, use cases, what value it adds, etc.

        1. 3

          Good point, ghidra. You as a creator have the control of how much information you want to share. So I think that's another good reason to encourage people to start building in public, just taking care of what you are going to "give" to the public

  4. 2

    build in public is more like destroying mental peace in public.
    I would rather spend my time working on real marketing strategy rather than wasting my time with people who will never convert.

  5. 2

    Wrong. You should NOT create a product that ONLY relays on building in public to sell. I have built in public before, but is too toxic for the product and your mental health.

    1. 2

      That's true. You should create a product because you are interested in solving the problem you found and should build in public in front of your real audience to get the feedback to find if the solution you are proposing is useful for someone

    2. 1

      why your mental health my friend ?

      1. 1

        Is a trap. Social media is a trap.

  6. 2

    There are several reasons why building in public can be beneficial:

    Feedback and Iteration: By sharing your work-in-progress publicly, you can gather feedback from a diverse range of perspectives. This feedback can help you identify blind spots, uncover potential issues, and make improvements. It allows you to iterate on your ideas and solutions more effectively.

    Community Building: Building in public helps you build a community around your project or venture. It allows people who are interested in your work to follow along, support you, and contribute their insights and expertise. This community can become a valuable source of inspiration, collaboration, and promotion.

    Accountability and Motivation: When you build in public, you create a sense of accountability. Knowing that others are observing your progress can motivate you to stay committed, focused, and productive. It helps you overcome challenges and keep pushing forward.

  7. 2

    I just struggle to find the audience tbh.

  8. 2

    Great content, thank you. There are big pros in building in public, but I'm wondering if this works only for entrepreneurs who already are "somebody" in online communities.
    Maybe I'm missing something about the "building in public" philosophy, but my biggest concern would be the audience, rather than being copied. I'm a nobody, as I begin to engage in conversations and share my projects and thoughts just now (years after starting my journey as an entrepreneur, my bad 😣) and I feel that building in public would open me to additional frustration (besides the common struggles of creating/running a business). I'm not talking about harsh feedback or such, but about the fact that creating the content and post it in different channels will need time, effort, care, and the probability that all will remain unnoticed is high. Sometime it looks like building in public would bring many additional things to worry about, besides the actual business.
    I want to build in public in the future, I keep track of posts like this for this reason, but right now I have mixed feelings...

    1. 2

      Matteo, it's great that you bring that perspective to the table. It's true that building in public adds more effort to the equation, so my advice is to choose wisely the channels where you're going to share your project.

      Many indie hackers believe that their target audience is on Twitter using the #buildinpublic hashtag or on Product Hunt, Hacker News, or even here on Indie Hackers. While your users may be on all these channels, I would recommend that you carefully consider which channel your true audience is in and focus on that.

      I don't know your product, but there are likely people interested in it on Reddit, Facebook groups, Telegram, etc. If your energy is limited and you want to maximize your efforts, I recommend that you first focus on sharing with your true users.

      Afterward, if you have extra energy or want some feedback on more technical, strategic, or growth-related topics, then it's a good idea to visit forums like Indie Hackers and build in front of other hackers.

      1. 1

        Thank you for your help Carlos. As soon as I feel ready to build in public, I'll follow your guidelines

  9. 1

    Is the expectation that you are writing open source software when you are building in public? Could BIP work for closed source projects?

  10. 1

    When building in public on IH, a common challenge is that the feedback often comes from fellow developers and entrepreneurs, who may not necessarily be your potential clients. In my opinion, the crucial aspect is to launch quickly and actively engage with your target audience. Whether you decide to share the different steps you're going through with the outside world is a matter of strategic choice and personal preference.

  11. 1

    I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in creating a successful product or business.

  12. 1

    There are always exceptions...

    I've NEVER shared anything "build in public" related or even launched on Product Hunt or anywhere similar. Even for products that have done 6 figures per year.

    Instead, I rely on a more "watering hole" approach which is to find where your customers hangout, then hangout there and understand them. Build and market around that and they'll internally share your work if it resonates.

    I've also never spent even $1 on ads because I prefer to exhaust my organic reach ideas before falling back on paid exposure.

  13. 1

    "I will start documenting the development of my first product" I'm going to follow you on twitter to see how this goes!

  14. 1

    I didn't expect those reactions in the comments as I agree that building in public can be very useful but "99% of the time" was probably exaggerated.
    A big pro is for the launch on Product Hunt, you get a lot of visibility! (This happens very often in my Twitter Feed)

    You look very concerned by the "copies" of your product but what build in public does is just delay it to some weeks/months...

  15. 1

    What is the best way to build in public that you recommend?

  16. 1

    For anyone building in public, not every day is launch day. Here's a build in public DB, add your updates or what you need

    https://airtable.com/shrbhSDsrlNwReiP0

  17. 1

    But the attention of the audience is too difficult to attract: either the product is ground-breaking; or the update is persistent;

  18. 1

    I couldn't agree more with your insights on building in public. It's amazing to see how sharing your progress and ideas can lead to valuable feedback, a supportive community, and potential customers who are genuinely interested in your product.

    At Onesta, we recently launched on Product Hunt and have been sharing our journey with the community. We've experienced first-hand the benefits of building in public – from refining our product based on feedback to connecting with like-minded creators and potential users.

    Your counterarguments to the common fears of building in public are spot-on. Embracing transparency and focusing on what truly excites you about your project can help you withstand competition and stay motivated in the long run.

    Best of luck with your first product, and I'm excited to follow your progress! Keep sharing and inspiring others to take the leap into building in public.

  19. 1

    I like the objections you brought to the table. But we all just make them up in our heads. I know it's hard – I feel it myself and procrastinating on "build in public" too. I've intentionally chosen an approach that is "somewhere in the middle" (excuse because I didn't do it from the start and realized it after many months) – therefore finally I was building in "stealth mode" and trying to switch it to "build in public" with a product that's almost ready for launch. But from one perspective, it's good too. I was building it for "me as a customer" as I felt the pains in the industry in my previous consultant work and therefore decided to build a product based on experience. Once I laid out the concept, reference architecture and the foundations, it's easier to start sharing as my vision developed over time as well. I'm not too afraid of copycats (part of the product is even going to be Open Source) – your product will always be unique. As I heard somewhere before – if you want to "cause troubles" to your "competitors" – give them your code. If you have a vision – you'll be always unique and far ahead of any copycat.

  20. 1

    For sure! Show it off first!

  21. 1

    Really great aspects covered! A Great read of today for sure!

  22. 1

    Thank you for this valuable advice, I didn't dare talk too much about my projects but I think I will do more to better understand user requests.

  23. 1

    Waiting for ability to post something in here to ask for collab

  24. 1

    Sure probably would love to, but there is a big thing that really holds me back - effort to start. If you have an audience already it's a no-brainer. You probably already know how to do it, you know how to put your thoughts in engaging way. Many people "just do it". Some of them kind of "live" in public. But there are lots (most?) of people who are super anxious about it. And the fact that there's nobody to hear it at first is really disheartening.

    It's also different if you just rumble your thoughts here and there, versus engaging with your potential future customers. You need to

    • know what IS your audience and where your audience hangs out
    • choose one of these places (I'm building an investments tracker - there are small communities everywhere)
    • be able to actually post your stuff there (investing forums I know don't care about makers)
    • write content relatable to them, probably not your day-to-day financial/marketing struggles

    The format that resonates with me most is this super-personal "rumbling" format - on any platform. Where they actually share their struggles, and sometimes share things that actually connect with their customers (like some a-ha moments). But then we circle back to having an audience to start with, unless you just do it naturally, which I don't. A catch-21.

    (I know, excuses, but had to vent a little - internet is a constant high-pressure stream of advice)

  25. 1

    this is a great primer on building in public - where are you looking to build in public? twitter, IHs (here?)

    1. 1

      because the product that I am developing is related to videogames I am going to share the project in facebook and discord groups to take feedback

  26. 1

    Whenever I hear about "building in public," ConvertKit always comes to mind. They share everything, including numbers, like this: https://convertkit.baremetrics.com

    It seems like you're suggesting that there's no obligation or exact framework for executing "building in public", as Simon also mentioned in his video. This no obligation style is mostly beneficial for early-stage founders to validate their concepts and acquire early users quickly.

  27. 1

    Thank you for the information

  28. 1

    Thanks, you voiced the same concerns and reservations that I, as a noob founder have. I resonated with this.

  29. 1

    Totally agreed!
    And thanks for the mention 🙌

  30. 1

    Yeah, totally agree. I've thought about the pros and cons of BIP in this post before:

    Pros:

    • Increase the possibility to attract potential users
    • Act like a human to leverage trust and attraction
    • Set a strict timeline to motivate yourself
    • Build a strong relationship with customers
    • Get engaged with more founders or people from professional fields

    Cons:

    • Attracting some copycats
    • Be more anxious than ever
    • Expose weakness and mistakes to others
    • Get engaged with more founders or people from professional fields

    In general, I think BIP has more pros than cons, and I personally enjoy building in public, possibly because I enjoy sharing my experiences. I believe that building in public demonstrates the internet’s magic, as it allows me to interact with users, founders, and friends from all over the world. I enjoy talking to them, debating whether my ideas are stupid or brilliant, and hearing their differing perspectives on a single issue, which is the beauty of communication.

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