How to grow an audience while building your product. Platforms, strategies, and what to share.

Building in Public: Why and How

Building in public means sharing your journey as you build. It's marketing, accountability, and community-building in one.

Why Build in Public?

Free marketing: Every update is content
Accountability: Public commitment drives action
Feedback: Early input improves your product
Network: Connect with other builders
Trust: Transparency builds credibility

Where to Build in Public

Twitter/X

Largest builder community
Quick updates, threads
Best for tech audience

Professional audience
Longer-form content
B2B products

Indie Hackers

Dedicated community
Detailed posts welcome
Supportive feedback

Your Own Blog

SEO benefits
Full control
Permanent home

What to Share

The Journey

Why you're building this
Problems you're solving
Your background and motivation

Progress Updates

Features shipped
Milestones hit
Metrics (revenue, users)
Screenshots and demos

Lessons Learned

What worked
What didn't
Pivots and changes
Technical discoveries

Behind the Scenes

Design decisions
Tool choices
Time breakdowns
Real challenges

Wins AND Losses

Celebrate milestones
Share failures too
Be authentic

Content Formats

Daily/Regular Updates

"Day 47: Added Stripe integration. Took longer than expected because [reason]. Revenue goal: $1K MRR by March."

Weekly Summaries

"This week: Launched feature X, got 50 new users, $200 in revenue. Biggest challenge was Y."

Thread Deep Dives

"How I built [feature] in a weekend. Thread 🧵"

Milestone Posts

"Just hit $1,000 MRR! Here's everything I learned getting here..."

Building an Audience

Consistency

Post regularly (daily or every few days)
Same time/day builds habits
Don't disappear for weeks

Engagement

Reply to every comment
Comment on others' posts
Ask questions
Share others' wins

Value First

Teach something useful
Share real data
Help others
Not just promotion

Authenticity

Be yourself
Share struggles
Don't pretend it's easy

Common Mistakes

Only sharing wins: Failures are more interesting
Too salesy: Building in public ≠ constant promotion
Inconsistency: Disappearing kills momentum
No engagement: It's social, not broadcast
Waiting for perfection: Share the messy middle

Building in Public with Spawned

Spawned makes building in public easy:

Share your project page
Updates visible to community
Community features let supporters follow your progress
Progress is visible and shareable

Getting Started

Week 1

Announce what you're building and why
Share your first screenshot
Set a public goal

Month 1

Post 2-3x per week
Share one lesson learned
Engage with 10 other builders daily

Month 3

You have an audience
Regular followers
Feedback loop established

Key Takeaways

Start today, not when it's "ready"
Share the real journey, not a highlight reel
Engage more than you broadcast
Be consistent over being perfect
Your journey is unique-share it

Building in Public: The Complete Guide