Building in public, good or bad?

Mohsen Kamrani
33 replies
As we step into new year, like all of you, I'm full of courage and passion to achieve my biggest goal for the year which is to make my startup successful. The first step has been to be more active on multiple platforms including Twitter. In twitter I've realised people encourage building in public specially for bootstrapped startups, so I decided to do the same and I'm very honest and open about it, showing all my weaknesses, flaws, struggles, challenges, strengths, strategies, and keeping nothing business critical. Do you think it's a good idea? Would you do the same? Any advise? Btw, If you're interested, I'm posting my journey here: https://twitter.com/mohsen74500451

Replies

Ana Dodig
If you're comfortable with sharing things about the whole process of building your startup in public, just do it. I find that transparency is always great base for introduction and success.
Mohsen Kamrani
@dodig_ana Absolutely Ana. I wasn't really at the beginning, but now I feel pretty comfortable.
Ng Fang Kiang
Good and bad. just do it
Mohsen Kamrani
@jorcus Thanks Ng Fang, I'm on it
Do it. You will have tons of feedbacks. Don't do it. Someone can steal or a competitor can see your failures. There is pro and con, it depend of the context I think :)
Mohsen Kamrani
@jacquelinclem Thanks Clément. Actually initially I was concerned about the competitors, but now, I've done so much that I'm almost confident no one can do it so quickly and easily, so going with the first answer and hoping for lots of feedbacks as you suggested
Aurelian Spodarec
@jacquelinclem @m_kamrani I'm thinking to pre-record videos if anything. What I'm building I know it can be built and copied easily, even though it takes a lot of thought to come up with what I'm doing, but once the solution is there, its there. Which is what will give me an edge over existing products, but at the same time, the time will be limited till other copy. So in my case, best I don't reveal too much what I am doing until I launch it and have some hundreds or thousands of content populated.
Eli Galarza
I think just do it, people may try to imitate but they dont have the secret ingredient which is YOU
Mohsen Kamrani
@artifactnft Thanks for your support Eli, I'm really getting more motivated every day with the support I'm receiving here and on Twitter.
Corey Crossfield
I think it's a great idea if you're open to it and comfortable sharing things about the process of building your startup online. Some folks may not be and that's okay too but I'd say go for it. About to start the journey myself.
Mohsen Kamrani
@coreycrossfield Glad you like it too Corey and thanks for your encouraging words. I've come to the belief that It's really not about keeping thing so secret, it's about building a community, trust and brand while you're building your product. Also best of luck with your journey and eager to hear about it as you progress.
Debajit Sarkar
There is no right or wrong in this. Building in Public does have its own advantages. However, be clear as to why do you want to Build in Public. Is it to drive traffics to your projects? To establish a brand, an identity, a thought leadership? Anything else? A lot of creators misinterpret that "share your journey, and they'll come." This is hardly the case. There must be a well defined plan behind why you're Building in Public and what you are trying to achieve. Without clear goals, you'll find the sharing to be a waste of time and you'll give up.
Mohsen Kamrani
@dsarkar Thanks Debajit. You're right, it's really important to have a goal. These are my goals: - building audience, community and brand - getting early feedback So far it's been going beyond my expectations. I've never seen any results in my whole life in anything serious after two days, but now it's day two of me building in public and I've already received some feedback, support, and have attracted some attention.
Style and Trends
I love how your poll result is 100% yes.
Mohsen Kamrani
@styletrendsnews Isn't it amazing? I think the message is pretty clear for me and anyone in the same situation.
Subash Chandra Bose A
I am building Senatio.com in public, it’s basically bootstrapped startup focused on wellness, sometimes it’s hard to post and keep people updated from applications algorithm to " z " details of the application. But it help us to build the trust among people and can easily onboard user from alpha versions itself.
Mohsen Kamrani
@mind_walks Sounds amazing Best of luck Subash.
Alina Ihnatiuk
It is necessary to use all the possibilities. Good luck!
Mohsen Kamrani
@antonovna Fair point. Thanks Alina.
Ira GI
You don't need advice. Just do it. Through mistakes and different tools, you will find the best option for yourself. Good luck!
Mohsen Kamrani
@ira_gi Thanks Ira. Certainly. I might be even doing it too publicly, but what's the worst can happen? Best thing is that it's become fun, and I'm enjoying it. Building new relationships with lots of awesome people, driving traffic to the site...
Jessie
Do whatever feels right for you and makes you happy :) and congrats on taking that step into achieving your goal 🙌
Mohsen Kamrani
@jessie_m Thanks Jessie. Being happy with what I do is what I overlooked for a long time. I think this is really important for all of us, no matter what we do. And thanks for the kind words 🙏
Dhruv Bhatia
I think it's great, especially if you're a solo and/or bootstrapped founder without a lot of VC marketing dollars supporting you. I'm building in public too and I'm a solo bootstrapped founder. Follow my journey here - https://twitter.com/north_star_says
Mohsen Kamrani
@dhruv_bhatia This is fantastic Dhruv! I'll definitely check it out. And you're right, without VC money to waste on marketing without building relationship it's the best option to build in public and build the relationship and grow organically! Best of luck with your journey!
Dhruv Bhatia
@m_kamrani Thanks Mohsen, all the best to you too!
GamerSeo
In our opinion, the idea can actually turn out to be very good. The key to success is to do your best.
Mohsen Kamrani
@gamerseo Thanks for the confirmation! Fair point.
Mohsen Kamrani
@caleb_dreamfect Thanks for encouraging. Yep, I'm on it.
Jaskiran Kaur
It is always good to know stories and see journey of a company from startup to enterprise like Google, Apple, Swiggy, Uber ,etc