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Build in Public: Grow the Audience With the Product

Share the building of your product in public every week (progress, numbers, decisions, failures) so an audience grows alongside the product and is ready on launch day. Sets what to share and what to keep private, a 30-minute weekly update template, a monthly numbers post, milestone and launch-countdown posts, where to post (X, Threads, Indie Hackers, LinkedIn, a newsletter), and how to move followers to an email list you own.

Beginner⏱ Setup 30 min · 30 min/week📂 socialv1.0.0

A share/don't-share list, a weekly update you can write in 30 minutes, and a plan that turns followers into email subscribers before launch day.

Goal

Most launches fail because nobody is waiting. Building in public fixes that by making the work itself the content: each week, a short honest update. After a few months you have people who watched the product grow, trust you, and show up when you launch. It costs 30 minutes a week, not a marketing budget.

When to use

  • You're building something and have 4+ weeks until launch, or you're live and want a steady trickle of attention.
  • You're a solo builder or a small team, comfortable sharing numbers and mistakes.
  • Not for: writing one credible post → social-credible-posting. Products where secrecy matters (a client project, a patentable idea, a clone-able niche with no moat).

Inputs

  • One account on 1–2 platforms where your users or fellow builders are.
  • A simple way to see your weekly numbers (store dashboard, analytics, payment provider).
  • An email signup page (waitlist or newsletter) → email-list-and-deliverability.

Steps

  1. Decide what you share (and what you never share). Write it down once:
Share Keep private
Weekly progress, screenshots, decisions and why Users' personal data, emails, names (unless they agree)
Numbers you're comfortable with: users, revenue range or exact, conversion API keys, dashboards with private info visible, bank details
Mistakes and what you learned Anything under NDA or a client's business
Tools and stack Exact niche keywords or data that lets anyone clone you in a weekend (your call)
  1. Pick 1–2 places and a day. Builders follow builders on X, Threads, Indie Hackers and LinkedIn. Your users might be elsewhere; cross-post a user-friendly version there. Same day every week, so people come back.
  2. Write the weekly update (30 min) with this template:
Week {{N}} of building {{product}}: {{one-line headline: the most interesting thing}}

Shipped: {{1–3 bullets, with a screenshot or GIF}}
Numbers: {{users / sign-ups / revenue this week vs last}}
Learned: {{one lesson, specific}}
Stuck on / question: {{one real question for readers}}
Next week: {{one goal}}

The question at the end is what gets replies, and replies are where relationships start. 4. Post a monthly numbers post (rung 3–4 of the proof ladder in social-credible-posting): a chart or dashboard screenshot, what moved it, what didn't work. These are the posts people save and share. 5. Mark milestones (first user, first $1, 100 users, first review, a rejection you fixed) with a short story post, not just a number. 6. Move followers to an owned list. Every 3–4 updates, end with: "I send the full update + early access by email once a month: {{link}}". On launch day, email first, then post. → strategy-product-as-funnel 7. Run a launch countdown in the last 2 weeks: beta invites for followers, a "launch day is {{date}}" post, and ask people to try it on day 1 and reply with feedback, never to upvote in a coordinated way (most launch sites ban that; see launch-product-hunt-launch). 8. Review monthly: followers gained, replies per post, email sign-ups from social, launch-day users from your audience. If replies are near zero after 8 weeks, change the platform or the question you ask, not the honesty.

Prompt (copy-paste)

Works in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor. Replace everything in {{ }}.

You help indie builders write build-in-public updates that are honest and short. Never invent progress or numbers.

Product: {{what, who for}}
Week number: {{N}}   Platform: {{X / Threads / Indie Hackers / LinkedIn}}
This week, raw notes: {{what I shipped, numbers, problems, anything interesting}}
Last week's numbers: {{...}}
Things I don't want to share: {{...}}
Email signup link: {{...}}

1. Find the most interesting thing in my notes and turn it into a one-line headline.
2. Write the weekly update using: headline, Shipped, Numbers (vs last week), Learned, Stuck on / question, Next week.
   Under 150 words for X/Threads (as a short thread if needed), up to 300 for Indie Hackers/LinkedIn.
3. Suggest the screenshot or GIF to attach.
4. Write one specific question for readers that invites useful replies.
5. If this is week 4, 8, 12…, add a one-line invitation to my email list.

Example output

Illustrative example. Fictional product and numbers.

Week 7 of building Tabby (tab manager for Chrome): the "save session" button doubled day-2 retention

Shipped: one-click "save all tabs as a session" (GIF below), dark mode Numbers: 312 users (+48), day-2 retention 38% (was 19%), $0 revenue (paid tier comes in week 10) Learned: users didn't want more features, they wanted one they could trust not to lose their tabs Stuck on: pricing. $3/month or $19 lifetime for a tab manager? Next week: sync across devices, behind a waitlist

I send a longer monthly update + early access by email: tabby.example/updates

Common mistakes

  • Only posting when there's good news. The weeks where something broke are the ones people remember.
  • Talking only to other builders. Fun, but they won't be your users. Add posts for the people who'll use it.
  • Leaking private data in screenshots. Crop emails, customer names and keys before posting.
  • No owned list. Followers belong to the platform; an email list belongs to you.
  • Stopping after launch. The audience you built wants to see what happens next. That's more weeks of content.

Credits

Written by @nvminhtu.