Build in public posts that are worth reading, with examples

It is not a marketing channel, or not mainly. It is a way to make decisions with witnesses, get corrected early, and build an audience of people who have watched you be honest for a long time. The posts that serve that purpose share the reasoning behind a number, admit the flat weeks, and say what you got wrong before anyone else can.

A simple test for an update: if the number were removed, would the post still say something? If it would not, add the decision or the cause. If it would, you can even leave the number out some weeks.

• A weekly ship log with the miss included

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  Shipped this week: scheduling for threads an undo on delete a fix for the export bug from Monday Not shipped: the thing I said I would ship. Next week.

  Why it works:

  Three real items and an honest miss. The miss is what makes the list believable and what people reply to.

• A ship with the estimate beside the actual

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  Shipped bulk import. Estimated: two days. Actual: nine. The import was two days. The seven other days were what to do when row 400 of 1,000 is broken.

  Why it works:

  The gap between estimate and reality is a story every builder knows, and the explanation teaches something about edge cases.

• A ship nobody asked for

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  Shipped a thing nobody asked for: a keyboard shortcut to duplicate a post. I use it 30 times a day. Maybe I was the user all along.

  Why it works:

  Admitting you built for yourself is more honest than pretending every feature came from research. It also tends to be funny.

A number without a cause is a scoreboard. A number with what changed, or with what did not change, is a lesson. Post the flat weeks and the down weeks too, or the record stops being trustworthy and so does the account.

• Revenue with what changed

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  Week 32: $1,240 MRR. Up from $980 last month. What changed: I emailed every trial that lapsed and asked one question. 6 came back.

  Why it works:

  The action is specific and repeatable. Readers can copy it tomorrow, which is why they save the post.

• A flat week, said plainly

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  Week 33: $1,240 MRR. Same as last week. Nothing changed because I spent the week on a conference talk. Posting the flat weeks too, or the graph is a lie.

  Why it works:

  Flat weeks are where most build in public accounts go quiet. Posting one with the reason builds more trust than a good week does.

• A number that went down

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  Lost 4 customers this week. Added 2. All four who left were on the plan I am about to retire. Not a coincidence. Also not comfortable.

  Why it works:

  A loss with the pattern behind it. The last line admits the feeling without turning the post into a confession.

• Usage instead of money

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  Not revenue, but: 212 posts went out through the scheduler this week. In March it was 15. The product is being used. Now to get paid for it.

  Why it works:

  When revenue is not the story yet, usage is. The honest last line keeps it from sounding like a vanity metric.

• A launch that did not work

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  Launch day numbers: 1,900 visitors, 41 signups, 0 paid. The page said what it does. It did not say who it is for. Rewriting it this week, then launching again quietly.

  Why it works:

  Three numbers, a diagnosis and a plan. Failed launches posted this way get more useful replies than successful ones.

• A decision with its tradeoff

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  Decided: no free plan. The tradeoff: fewer people try it. The upside: everyone who does is a potential customer, and support stops being a hobby.

  Why it works:

  Naming the cost of your own decision shows you are not selling it. People who chose the other way will explain why, which is useful.

• A pivot stated plainly

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  Pivoting. The tool for agencies is now a tool for solo creators. Agencies loved the demos and never paid. Creators paid in the first week and complained about everything. I will take the complainers.

  Why it works:

  The evidence for the pivot is in the post, and the last line is a point of view about customers that people will quote.

• What you would do differently

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  If I started this again: charge from day one write the landing page before the code talk to users weekly, not when scared None of this is new. All of it I skipped.

  Why it works:

  A list people have seen before, made honest by the last line. The admission is the content.

• A monthly review in three lines

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  Month 8 review. Best decision: killing the free plan. Worst: ignoring onboarding for six months. Surprise: the blog brings more signups than the product's own share button.

  Why it works:

  Best, worst and surprise is a format you can repeat monthly without it getting stale, because the content changes.

• A year in one post

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  One year of building in public. 52 updates, 3 pivots, 1 product that pays part of the rent. The updates got more replies than the launches. Still do not fully understand why.

  Why it works:

  The counts compress a year into a line, and the open question at the end is one the whole community argues about.

• A thank you with the specific

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  Thanks to the person who replied to my week 2 update and said "charge more". I did. Eight months later the business exists because of it.

  Why it works:

  Credit to a reply, with the result. It rewards the people who engage honestly and shows that you listen.

1. 01Pick one day for the update and keep it. Friday works for most people because the week is complete.
2. 02Open three sources: the changelog, the numbers, and your own notes on decisions. One update draws from one source, not all three.
3. 03Write the number or the ship first, then the cause or the decision, then one line of how it felt or what you learned.
4. 04If nothing moved, say so and say why. A flat week with a reason is an update; a skipped week is a gap in the record.
5. 05Once a month, replace the weekly update with a review: best decision, worst decision, surprise.
6. 06Schedule it so it goes out even when Friday is bad. The guide to posting frequency covers how to keep a rhythm without filler.

The founder version of this account, with decisions beyond the product, is in post ideas for founders. The founder growth guide covers building in public without leaking things a competitor or an investor will use against you.