Guide
The Build-in-Public Playbook
How to turn product progress into audience growth, step by step.
Building in public isn’t about posting screenshots, it’s about turning every step of your work into something your future customers can follow. It works when it’s a system, not a vibe. This is the rhythm we recommend to founders running the loop.
Why build in public
AI made shipping the MVP the easy part. Distribution and trust are now the moat, and building in public turns every shipped update into both, when you make it deliberate.
- Distribution that compounds without paid spend.
- A list of early believers who buy on launch day.
- Real-time market signal you can route straight into your roadmap.
Start with a signal, not a post
The best build-in-public content starts from a real conversation: a Reddit thread, a support email, a competitor gap. Capture it, then write about the problem before you write about your solution.
The weekly rhythm
A weekly cadence is the single highest-leverage thing you can do. Pick a day and never miss it. The cadence matters more than any individual post.
- Monday, review last week’s signal and shipped work.
- Tuesday, draft the founder update.
- Wednesday, publish and cross-post.
- Thursday, respond to every reply.
- Friday, review what each post drove.
What to publish
Five formats cover 90% of what founders should post. Rotate them:
- Shipped work, plus the story behind it.
- A specific lesson with a specific number.
- A question your audience can answer.
- A behind-the-scenes look at how you decide.
- A teardown of your own metrics.
Show the work, keep the proof
Share the decision, the evidence behind it, and what you’ll do next. Attach the source. People trust progress they can verify.
Capture signal back
Posting is half the loop. The other half is capturing what your audience says back. Save replies to your CRM, tag them, and let themes emerge before you act.
Close the loop
When you ship what people asked for, tell the people who asked, by name. “You asked, we shipped” is the most reliable growth post there is, and it will out-perform every other distribution tactic over a year.