Building in Public: The Indie Hacker’s Unfair Advantage

Why it works (even when you’re small)

Attention is expensive. Trust is priceless. Building in public buys trust with receipts: what you shipped, what broke, what you learned.

People don’t follow perfect. They follow progress.

The ingredients (you already have them)

• A weekly demo: a gif, a 30-second video, or 3 screenshots
• A number you care about: WAUs, demos, revenue, or even “messages sent”
• A short note on “what surprised me” each week

This is the anti-highlight reel. It reads human because it is.

What to share (without giving away the farm)

• Roadmap slices, not secrets: what you’re solving next and why
• Customer stories with permission (blur the names, keep the lesson)
• Mini post-mortems when you ship a fix in 24 hours
• Distribution experiments, including the flops (they help more than you think)

Where to share (pick 2, be consistent)

• X/Twitter + a niche community (Discord, subreddit, forum)
• Personal blog + lightweight newsletter
• Occasional cross-post to LinkedIn (yes, really)

The compounding bits

• Serendipity: partners and customers find you “by accident”
• Credibility: you’re the person doing the thing, not just talking about it
• SEO: your build notes turn into long-tail posts that can rank competitive keywords later

Avoid the cringe

• Talk about the work, not yourself. “Shipped X, learned Y, next Z.”
• Share numbers with context, not flexes
• Don’t teach too early. Show, then reflect

A 30-minute weekly rhythm

• 10 min: pick 1 artifact (gif/screenshot)
• 10 min: write 5 bullets (shipped, blocked, learned, next, ask)
• 10 min: post in 2 places, reply to comments later

That’s it. Keep the bar low, keep the loop going.

Related

• The Myth of ‘Perfect Product’ Before Launch
• Case Study: The $500 Side Project That Became a Real Business
• Why SEO is Slow but Worth It

Final note

Building in public is a lightweight engine for trust, feedback, and luck. Do it your way, but do it.

If you want prompts, templates, and friendly accountability to make it a habit, come build alongside us at Indie10k.