Building in public is overrated

It's not a silver bullet.

I enjoy building in public, but I’ll be honest with you:

Building in public is overrated.

Not sure why but as the building in public movement grows on Twitter, it also takes on the level of hubris that other hype bubbles have (e.g. web3, AI). It’s now like the best thing since sliced bread. The hype is baffling.

I guess because a lot of the push comes from gurus coaching others how to build in public on Twitter. Obviously there’s skin in the game to make it sound like a miracle pill, a silver bullet, and that it’s the only thing there is.

But it’s just ONE tool amongst many to market your products. It’s not the ONLY tool, and not always the RIGHT one. I got other products where I don’t build in public but still earns money.

Maybe building in public as a form of marketing makes sense when:

• Your users/customers find value in and appreciate building in public updates. Say you’re building for fellow makers who are active Twitter users.

• Users want transparency and realtime data, say during a hurricane or a crisis, or some event that people are watching closely.

I can’t think of many situations where building in public matters to the product and customers. It’s definitely not mandatory.

The problem arises when the ones who fall for it are often those new to the game, and easily impressed by the experienced indies who only show the highlight reels and now the other channels they use. They build in public, tweet daily, and burn out because of low returns on that investment in time and energy, when the channel-offer fit isn’t there. Some products just don’t need to build in public. Some need ads. Others require email marketing. Most benefit from SEO and content marketing.

And the best reason I enjoy building in public is not so much as a form of marketing marketing but just as a way to share cool stories by the campfire and make friends.

So tl;dr – don’t hop on it first thing, unless it makes business sense.

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