Building in public has become a central acquisition channel for many startups. Although more founders have embraced this approach in recent years, making the space more competitive, it still delivers strong returns on the time and resources invested.
At its core, building in public is about authenticity. It encourages founders to openly share their journey, including the challenges, failures, and lessons learned. Since products constantly evolve, building in public invites your audience and community to grow with you, making them part of the story rather than just spectators.
What is Building in Public?
Building in Public (BIP) is the practice of developing a product or company while openly sharing the behind-the-scenes journey. Founders who build in public share their wins, struggles, lessons, stories, and sometimes even business metrics, giving their audience a transparent look at how the business grows. Startups that take this approach are often referred to as open or transparent startups.
By publicly sharing your progress and lessons, you naturally attract a community around your work. This transparency doesn’t just build trust; it also creates buzz, expands your network, and drives engagement. In some cases, building in public can even help you attract investors, partners, talent, and early adopters, all before your product fully launches.
Why Build in Public?
Building in public gives your startup a story people can follow. Audiences love a glimpse behind the curtain, and when you openly share how your product is evolving, you provide them with something to root for. This creates not just awareness, but a community that feels invested in your journey long before anything officially launches.
That openness naturally builds trust. By showing the real process of the messy experiments, the big wins, and even the setbacks, you become more approachable and relatable. Authenticity inspires loyalty, inviting honest conversations about your vision and how you intend to get there.
As you continue sharing what you learn and how you solve problems, you begin to establish authority in your space. Instead of claiming expertise, you demonstrate it through experience, positioning yourself as someone who not only talks but builds.
This transparency also creates space for immediate feedback. When you’re deep inside your own product, blind spots are inevitable. Opening up your process to others brings fresh perspectives, helping you spot usability issues early and avoid wasting effort on the wrong solutions.
Over time, this way of working reveals something more profound: a culture built on honesty, hard work, and shared progress. And that kind of culture is magnetic. It doesn’t just attract customers, users, and supporters; it draws in talented people who want to contribute to a mission they can clearly see and believe in.
Advantages of Building in Public
Building in public can unlock opportunities you might not expect. When you openly document your journey, you:
- Expand your network naturally, connecting with people both online and offline.
- Form meaningful relationships with others who share your interests, goals, or industry.
- Catch the attention of investors and talented candidates who want to be part of what you’re building.
- Stay top of mind for your audience, even before you launch anything.
- Earn trust and generate demand without using hard-sell tactics.
- Create visibility that opens doors to job offers from exciting tech companies.
Practical Ways to Build in Public
Building in public can take place across many channels, such as X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, product communities, and niche forums. The goal is to let people follow your progress as you create, test, and improve your product.
Here are some practical ways to do it:
- Share real moments from the user journey, like screenshots of feedback, quotes from customers, or snippets from internal conversations (Slack messages, support tickets, tweets, etc.).
- Tell honest company stories, including the obstacles you face and the tactics that helped you hit significant milestones.
- Provide transparency around what’s coming next by revealing your product roadmap or giving a behind-the-scenes look at how your team works.
- Use platforms like Product Hunt to showcase new features, updates, and early versions of your product to the public.
Conclusion
If you’re building a startup, embracing a “build in public” approach can be a powerful strategy for both acquiring and retaining customers. To put this into practice, start by identifying where your target audience spends their time online and choose a channel that feels natural for you to create content on. Commit to sharing your journey on that platform and decide in advance the types of content you’ll publish. Experiment with new formats, stay consistent, and let your audience follow and engage with your progress. Over time, this transparency not only strengthens your community but also builds trust, credibility, and momentum around your product.
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