Build in Public became a transparency movement where entrepreneurs shared revenue numbers, challenges, and decision-making processes openly while building their businesses.
Philosophy Origins
Indie Hackers founder Courtland Allen pioneered open metrics sharing in 2016. Buffer’s “Open” blog (2013-present) inspired the movement by publishing salaries, revenue, and equity breakdowns. By 2018, #BuildInPublic coalesced as founders like Pieter Levels, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, and Jon Yongfook tweeted daily progress.
Cultural Impact
The movement democratized business knowledge traditionally guarded by gatekeepers. Founders shared real MRR (monthly recurring revenue), customer counts, failed experiments, and mental health struggles. This radical transparency built audiences, accountability, and community support before products launched.
Twitter became the primary platform: threads documenting “Day 1 to $10K MRR” journeys accumulated millions of views. Product Hunt launches benefited from pre-built audiences. The hashtag spawned sub-movements: #12MonthsTo100K, #24HourStartup, #100DaysOfNoCode.
Criticism & Exploitation
By 2021-2023, authenticity concerns emerged: some founders “built in public” as marketing theater rather than genuine transparency, sharing only wins. Others built audiences without businesses, monetizing the “building” content itself through courses/sponsorships. Privacy trade-offs became apparent—competitors copied strategies, customers questioned decisions, burnout increased from performance pressure.
Legacy
Despite criticisms, the movement normalized discussing revenue (previously taboo), mental health, and failures publicly. It created alternative role models to VC-backed unicorn mythology and proved small, profitable, transparent companies could thrive.
Source: Indie Hackers Build in Public