Simple Build In Public Strategy

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Quick question - Do you build in public?

Sometimes 🙄

Today I’ll share a simple strategy to make building in public easy and valuable for you as a founder and creator.

This post will take 4 minutes to read, but if you only have 30 seconds, then just read this Precap below.

This is everything that I’ll share today -

Precap

Building in Public is about documenting your journey, not “content creation” for the sake of it.

Just 1 tweet a day is enough.

Share a “5 minute story” every day -

Something you did
Something you learned
Something that happened to you

Pick a platform where your customers and/or friends hang out

Make sure your story has some “value” for the audience

Be vulnerable if you are comfortable. But don’t complain all the time.

Don’t share sensitive/critical info about your business.

Now let’s dive deeper -

So tell me, do you build in public?

Whatever may be your answer, you can’t ignore the build in public trend that’s going on right now and the massive benefits founders have got from it.

They’re openly sharing their journey on the internet, gaining loyal fans, and growing their businesses in the process.

I myself have got followers, subscribers and customers because I’ve been actively building in public on Twitter.

It’s not a new idea though.

Austin Kleon’s book “Show Your Work” is the original guide to Building in Public. And it was published back in 2014.

These days it’s become this big thing that people talk about everyday.

The best part is, you don’t have to lose your sanity and become a content machine to build in public.

And you don’t have to reveal any sensitive information that may lead to any harm to your business.

There is a simple way to build in public that is -

Mindful

Strategic

Valuable to you and your customers.

Let’s get into it -

Simple Build in Public Strategy

First off, why do it at all?

If you’re not sold on it yet, here are 8 solid reasons that ChatGPT (an AI model) came up with. You can check them out in this tweet. I don’t think I have much to add here.

But the most important reason to do it?

Document your journey.

As a founder, creator, soloprenuer you’re on an unconventional path. Probably less than 1% of the people around you are doing what you’re doing.

So documenting your journey online is the best way to attract like minded people (friends and/or customers) from around the world.

It’s obvious that the benefit of building in public outweigh the costs.

Now, let’s talk about how you can do it in a manner that benefits you without getting you overwhelmed.

How to do it?

The goal here is to document your journey.

Most advice on Twitter goes something like this -

X number of Tweets

Y number of Threads

Z number of replies

Every week.

And that advice is generally true for active audience building.

But if you can’t make content creation your full time job, and are okay with not having hundreds of thousands of followers, then you can skip that advice and just focus on 1 tweet a day.

That’s it - 1 tweet a day. (or 1 post on your preferred platform)

Post 1 tweet a day -

Share something that you learned, observed or applied in your business.

At the end of your work day, try to answer this question -

“What’s a 5 minute story you will tell about your day?”

(I found this question in the amazing book “Storyworthy” by Matthew Dicks)

The answer to this question can be -

Something you learned - a new insight that you’re applying in your business.

Something you did - a new feature, an interesting conversation, your tech stack.

Something that happened to you or your business - new revenue, churn, praise from a customer.

These answers can manifest in the form of screenshots on Instagram, or plain text tweets and threads on Twitter, or 20 second TikTok videos.

Platform

The platform you choose depends on your goals.

If you want to make friends who support you, go to a platform where like minded people hang out.

If you want to get customers, go to a platform where your customers hang out. (Related: Watering holes framework)

There may be a platform where your friends and customers both hang out. (Like for me, that’s Twitter).

If you can find that, then it’s amazing. If not, then pick one, whichever matters to you the most right now.

Try to do multiple platforms and you will spread yourself too thin!

Caveats

Value

Whenever you share your 5 minute story, always make sure that the audience (friends or customers) have an interesting takeaway from it.

They get some value out of it.

The harsh fact is that the world runs on the principle - “What’s in it for me?”

And if your 5 minute story doesn’t give some new insight/information/epiphany to your audience then they won’t care about you.

And if they don’t care about you then posting even 1 tweet a day can feel like a chore.

Vulnerability

If you are comfortable being vulnerable in public, then go ahead and do it. Share your failures and mistakes. You will get a lot of love and support from people.

(If you have less than 500 followers then vulnerability can get ignored, which is even more disheartening, so best avoid it then)

But don’t overdo it, nobody likes a cry baby.

And always make sure that people get value from your vulnerability. So share the “top lessons” or insights from your failure or mistakes.

That’s the best way to build in public.

Document your journey like this and you will start to attract like minded people.

What NOT to do

This is obvious, but I’ll still state it - don’t share sensitive information publicly.

Anything that can harm your business.

It can be your revenue, your marketing channels, your growth strategies.

Because like it or not, it’s very easy for competitors to copy what you’re building and catch up to you if you reveal everything.

Arvid Kahl has a great piece on this - “Too many eyes”.

Eventually all founders stop building in public beyond a certain point, true story!

Bottomline

Time to go, these were my best performing tweets from last week, you might like them -

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