Building in Public 🏗️💻
Tags: softwareengineering, blog, dev, building
Published: 2023-01-07 21:09:11

Hey, hey, developers!

Our previous email taught us how previewing could be beneficial, especially for freelancers.

But what happens when a company shares building a <a href="https://codingforspeed.com/maximizing-dev-productivity/" title="Maximizing Dev Productivity">product</a> or even the whole business?

Let's take it a step further from previewing work in progress to building in public.

<h3>Transparent or stealth startups?</h3>
Transparent or open startups that build in public share their journey, all the wins and losses, metrics, funny stories, you name it.

The opposite is stealth startups, very secretive so as not to get their ideas stolen.

But time and experience show that building in public, sharing progress and getting constructive feedback from either support groups or customers bring more than not <a href="https://helloacm.com/the-simple-risk-register-for-project-management/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">risking</a> being copied.

<h3>Why build in public?</h3>
There are many <a href="https://codingforspeed.com/benefits-of-infrastructure-as-code-for-developers/" title="Benefits of Infrastructure as Code for Developers">benefits</a> to using this practice, for example:

<ul>
<li><strong>Feedback</strong>: Receiving customer feedback on product design and specifications, future ideas, or plans will give an insight into customers’ wishes and needs. After all, they are the reason behind product development.</li>
<li><strong>Customer satisfaction</strong>: People love having their opinions heard. If customers were a part of building a product, their investment in the company increases, and they will most likely be your product evangelists. And there’s nothing better than good word-of-mouth.</li>
<li><strong>Expert status</strong>: Building in public may very well mean you’re the only one doing it in your niche, so it’s most likely that your company will be the first thing on their mind anytime someone mentions that niche.</li>
<li><strong>Talent and investors</strong>: Positively exposed companies or startups attract a talented workforce and important investors. And success cannot happen without them.</li>
</ul>

<h3>One-size-fits-all?</h3>
Unfortunately, not so much. Most of the public building startups are tech companies. Even though this does not mean that non-tech startups shouldn't do it, it will probably just prove harder.

Here is a list of some of the founders public building their startups, and conveniently, they're all tech startups:
<ul>
<li>Austen Allred building Bloom Institute of Technology</li>
<li>Domm Holland building Fast</li>
<li>Suhail Doshi building Mighty</li>
<li>Paul Yacoubian building CopyAI</li>
<li>Jakob Greenfeld building various products</li>
<li>Adam Wathan building TailwindCSS</li>
<li>Andrey Azimov building Web3 Jobs</li>
<li>Danny Postma building Rare Blocks</li>
<li>Andrew Gazdecki building MicroAcquire</li>
<li>Guilherme Rizzo building CSS Scan</li>
<li>Damon Chen building Testimonial</li>
<li>Monica Lent building the Affilimate and Blogging for Devs</li>
<li>Noah Bragg building Potion</li>
</ul>

Reposted to [Blog](https://codingforspeed.com/building-in-public/)