“Document. Don't Create.” | #108
Why Build in Public is important while building projects
Hi, I'm Pranav
Every Friday, I share my process, thoughts, stories, ideas, and weekly recommendations. We're a community of 150+ curious people reading these newsletters.
Last month, I got into the Founder’s Office of Hive School. It’s a new-age sales school. It’s a startup, so I was one of the founding members of it. In the start, before we launched, we decided to build in public. It means that we share our progress every day on Instagram and LinkedIn. This way, we were able to share our learnings, what we are building every day, how are we building it, etc. We shared every day.
This played a big advantage to us. It helped to get early traction in our network. Almost everyone in our network and Masters’ Union started getting to know what we were building. It made everyone curious about our startup.
So, what exactly is BUILD IN PUBLIC?
Build in Public is a process in which you document your process and learnings of whatever you are building in public. It’s sharing your daily progress of whatever you are doing. You can also share your learnings of the place you are working at.
But, why build or learn in public?
1000s of years ago, there was no internet. So, the artists back then went into a room, made a painting and then showed it to the world. But today, it’s easier. You can share the daily process.
Where are the advantages:
It builds trust as you are telling people every bit of the process. They will feel connected to your brand.
When you are learning a new skill or building something, you will be alone. Building in Public, it’s a powerful form of social accountability. It will help you be motivated to grow every day as there’s a community to respond to.
You will get a ton of feedback. If you make a mistake, your community will give you feedback on it. If you also need some help, you can ask your community as they believe in you and will do everything to make you grow.
It takes courage to do it. People will respect you and stay along with you. People will cheer you and believe in you. “Anyone can build the same product as you, but no one can replicate your community or your story.”
Serendipity works very well. I have been using Notion for my work for more than 2.5 years. On Twitter, MarkitUp wanted a few speakers to take a session for their community. A few of my friends tagged me. So, that’s how I took a Notion 101 session for them a few months ago. Since I was doing a bunch of things on Twitter, it helped me do the session.
So, what can you share?
Just to clarify, if you are not building any product or startup, you can document your learnings in public. Everything I said above, is also applicable if you are reading a book, or watching podcasts, just share what you are learning on the internet.
You can share text, a screenshot of the product page or book, short video of you explaining. It can be as creative as you can.
Here are a few people to follow for inspitation
Note, I love Twitter because my tribe is there. But you can do it on any other platform. So these are the inspiration from some Twitter profiles.
Roohi K: She is a great podcaster. She interviews founders, VCs, and creators. On Twitter, she writes her learnings, invites guests publically, and shares the mistakes and responses she got from guests.
Riten Debnath: He is building Fueler, a platform which lets you showcase your Proof of Work. It has more than 19,000 users. The platform has purely grown out of Twitter.
Harsh Mishra: He’s a great friend and a graphic designer. He is sharing his learnings in public. He makes content on YouTube videos and Twitter.
Aanchal Verma: She is one of the best graphic Designer. She is working with some of the best creators and makes thumbnails for them. On Twitter, she breaks down her process of making thumbnails. It’s great to know the science of thumbnail making and YouTube.
Weekly Recommendations
See all the precious weekly recommendations here: weeklyrecommendations.super.site
WATCH
One of the best creators is Casey Neistat. In this podcast of how he started YouTube, how he left his home early on, why he left YouTube, etc.
READ
Here’s a great article by Public Lab where he explains everything about building in public. Read Here
TWITTER THREADS
These 6 concepts shifted the way I see my past, present, and future failures, Twitter Thread by Josh Spector: Read Here
A Thread of my notes on the
podcast conversation between @add_hawk and @seanmcarroll, By Paras Chopra: Read Here
In this together,
Pranav ✌️
Reach out anytime! Email or DM me and I'll read it all and reply too.
My Email- aninquisitivestoryteller@gmail.com
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