Building in public is not what I thought it was

I started sharing what I was building because I liked the idea of it. Accountability, feedback, community. All the reasons people give.

What I did not expect was the way it changes the way you think. Every decision starts to include an imaginary audience. You find yourself choosing the version of your work that will make the best post instead of the one that is best for the product.

I have watched founders optimize for the narrative and slowly stop listening to the thing in front of them. The posts get better. The product gets worse. And nobody notices because the story is so good.

I still share things. But I have stopped sharing everything, and the things I hold back are usually the ones that matter most.

Have you felt the pressure to build for the audience instead of the product? And where did you draw the line?