How to build in public: a step-by-step start

You don't need an audience, a content calendar, or a launch to start building in public. You need a project, a place to post, and a decision about which numbers you're willing to show. Here's the sequence.

1. Decide what's public

Go metric by metric. Stars, uptime, and shipped features are easy yeses. Revenue is the classic build-in-public metric, but it's optional — plenty of people share growth percentages instead of absolute numbers. Write the list down; it keeps you from oversharing in the excitement of a good week.

2. Set up your proof page

Before you post anything, create the permanent place your numbers live — a public page that shows your metrics live, so anyone reading an update can verify it, today or in six months. This is the difference between claims and proof. A page you update by hand goes stale in three weeks; wire it to the actual sources (GitHub, your payment provider, your uptime monitor) so it stays true without you. That's the job infrapage was built for, but the principle matters more than the tool — see the build-in-public tools rundown for the honest landscape.

3. Pick one channel

X is where the #buildinpublic community lives — here's the playbook for building in public on X. LinkedIn works if your buyers are there. One channel, done consistently, beats three done sporadically.

4. Share on a rhythm

Weekly is the sweet spot. The format that works:

• What shipped — one or two things, with a screenshot or link
• The numbers — this week vs last week; deltas are more interesting than totals
• One lesson — a decision, a mistake, a surprise

Skip the vague hustle posts. Specific and honest wins every time.

5. Mark the milestones

Round numbers are the posts that travel: first paying customer, 100 users, €1k MRR, 1,000 stars. Announce them when they happen and link back to your live page so the number is verifiable.

6. Engage, don't broadcast

Reply to other builders, answer questions about your numbers, share what you learned from someone else's update. The community half of build-in-public is what makes the audience half work.

That's the whole system. For the reasoning behind it — why it works and what to do about sensitive metrics — read the full guide to building in public.