Six months ago I decided to build in public. I'd share my progress, my numbers, my failures — the whole thing. Transparency would attract users and build trust.
Here's what actually happened, and what I'd do differently.
Mistake #1: Sharing Progress Instead of Shipping
I spent more time crafting update threads than writing code. Every feature got a "just shipped this!" post before I'd even tested it properly. The dopamine from engagement replaced the dopamine from actually building something good.
The fix: I now batch my updates. Ship for two weeks, then share what happened. The posts are better because there's actually something to talk about, and the product is better because I'm not context-switching into marketing mode every day.
Mistake #2: Treating Every Platform Like a Megaphone
I was cross-posting the same update to Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Hacker News — everywhere. Same message, same tone. It felt productive but the engagement was terrible.
Different communities want different things. Dev communities want technical depth. Twitter wants hot takes. Reddit wants genuine discussion, not self-promo.
The fix: Pick one or two platforms where your audience actually hangs out. Go deep instead of wide.
Mistake #3: Ignoring My Own Focus
This one's embarrassing. I was building productivity tools while being wildly unproductive myself. I'd start the morning planning to code, then spend two hours scrolling feeds for "market research."
I finally installed Monk Mode on my own machine and blocked the feeds — not the apps, just the feeds. Twitter timeline gone. Reddit front page gone. I could still search and reply, but the infinite scroll was dead.
My output doubled in the first week. Turns out the guy building the focus tool actually needed the focus tool.
Mistake #4: Chasing Vanity Metrics
Likes, retweets, follower counts — none of these correlated with downloads or revenue. My most viral tweet (2K+ likes) generated exactly zero sales. My most effective growth channel? A boring blog post that ranked on Google for a long-tail keyword.
The fix: Track what matters. For me that's downloads, activation rate, and whether people actually open the app after day one.
Mistake #5: Not Charging From Day One
I launched with a free beta "to build an audience first." All that got me was a bunch of users who expected everything to stay free and got annoyed when I added a price tag.
The fix: Charge from day one, even if it's cheap. The people who pay $5 on day one give you better feedback than 500 free users ever will.
What I'd Tell Past Me
Stop performing. Start shipping. The best "build in public" content comes from people who are actually building something worth talking about — not people who are talking about building.
Your product is the content. Everything else is noise.
I'm building Monk Mode (a macOS feed blocker) and TokenBar (a menu bar token counter for LLM APIs). Both are solo projects, both are profitable, and I don't post about them every day anymore.
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