What does "build in public" mean?

Build in public means creating a product — usually software — while openly sharing the process: your revenue, user numbers, roadmap, decisions, and mistakes, in real time, before the product is finished or successful.

It's the opposite of stealth mode. Instead of announcing a polished product at launch, you narrate the journey: "week 3, first paying customer", "we just crossed €500 MRR", "this feature flopped, here's why we're removing it."

Where it comes from

The practice grew out of the indie hacker community in the late 2010s, popularized by founders who published their revenue dashboards openly and by the #buildinpublic hashtag on X (Twitter). The related term open startup describes companies that take it furthest — publishing live metrics like MRR, churn, and traffic permanently on their website.

What it looks like in practice

• Posting weekly progress updates with real numbers
• A public metrics page anyone can check — live stars, uptime, revenue
• Sharing decisions and failures, not just wins
• Milestones announced as they happen, verifiable by anyone

The common thread is proof over promises: numbers people can check beat claims people have to trust. You can see it done live on the pages in our build-in-public examples, and the full practical guide to building in public covers why it works and how to start.

Not everything has to be public, though — most people who build in public share some metrics and keep others (customer data, exact revenue) private. Choosing what to show, per metric, is most of the craft.