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What are some reasons not to build in public?
by
Simon Peter Damian
Are there any downsides of building in public? Let's talk about downsides only
Your idea can easily be stolen.
It's a waste of time and energy.
Think of all the massive companies out there today. How many of them "built in public"?
The answer to that should tell you all you need to know.
Focus your time and energy on making a great product that delivers value.
to be fair, isn't building in public a way to gauge whether you are delivering value? people will respond if they like it, they won't if they do not
agreed, there are definitely some pretty big benefits early on. it is a large time commitment (and ROI is worse if you don't have a decent following to begin with) – but generally other founders also building in public are more open to trying new products (janky mvps) and can give valuable feedback that would otherwise be difficult to get
I don't think there are a great deal of downsides early on. I think at a high enough level (revenue wise), then things start to get dicey. A lot of larger indiehackers recently took down their /open pages in response.
But there are a few classic objections:
Asides from that building in public is a great way to get feedback early on, even if you don't go the distance with it.
It's also a community to be part of that help each other :)
I want to build in public but people don't really comment on my stuff.. any way to change that?
How long have you been doing it for?
on and off for a few months I would say. Maybe my issue is I haven't been consistent enough with updates
same here :)
I think building in public works bests for B2B SaaS products, where your target audience is likely interested in BIP
The downsides (as far as I can see them, anyway)
Your idea can be adopted by someone else at a stage where you don't have enough traction or enough of an audience to survive a threat like that.
If people don't engage at all, you look a little foolish. It's like the old "if a tree falls" philosophical question. If an enthusiastic solopreneur decides to build in public and nobody interacts or engages, what's the point?
I'm definitely feeling that foolish feeling right now. I think it's probably just psychological barrier, though. At some point, everybody had less than ten followers and probably felt foolish uploading with zero engagement and response. At least, that's what I'm telling myself to feel better.
The concept itself is confusing, I feel that you're not really "building in public", you're trying to "get some traction in public" through visual elements that people are attracted to.
The thing is that many of these techniques are based on luck or generating an audience based on work that you have been neglecting to see on social networks.
I don't feel there's a real need to share your progress publicly if that's not where your niche lies. At the end of the day, I have found more success with a final & working product than sharing the entire process to get there. It all depends on your product, your niche and of course if you are solving a real problem or not = Value.