What are some reasons not to build in public?

Question

Are there any downsides of building in public? Let's talk about downsides only

Mehul Fanawala · Accepted Answer

Here you go: 1. You are at the risk of sharing too much 2. It can make you anxious 3. Can bring out the worst in the audience 4. It may distract you from your business goals And, in case you need an explanation for each point then you will love reading https://www.theclueless.company/....

Jake Harrison · Answer

Idea theft and in a Red Sea competition. If you don’t have a high efficiency workflow, you will beaten by your competitors

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

@mehul_fanawala Checking out the link

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

@shajedulkarim_

I absolutely loves these points. They make sense, having had a similar experience in the past where I built in public and was unable to deliver, I just wished I was a little bit more conservative in my approach.

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

@shajedulkarim_  absolutely

Carissa Jansen · Answer

It's harder to iterate in public - the signal to noise ratio is also lower. Our product Graphite spent almost 2 years in closed beta.
Also if you guys love an underdog story, please support Graphite today - we spent most of the day in #3 and are currently trying to overtake #1 :)

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

Thanks for sharing @mehul_fanawala

These are all valid reasons. As much as I like the idea of build in public, I do agree that it can be a bit of a distraction

Shajedul Karim · Answer

@theterminalguy now you’re better right?

Shajedul Karim · Answer

building in public? exciting but not without its caveats. let's dive in.

reason one: idea theft. once it's out, it's fair game. protect your core secrets.

reason two: distraction. public updates can pull focus from actual product building.

reason three: pressure. public scrutiny ups the stakes, not always in a good way.

reason four: over-commitment. announcing features prematurely can backfire.

reason five: inflexibility. pivoting gets trickier when everyone is watching.

it's a double-edged sword, this public building thing. choose your path wisely.

not trying to discourage, just advocating for strategic openness. balance is key.

keep these in mind and make an informed decision. good luck brother!

Mehul Fanawala · Answer

@theterminalguy, glad you found it valid. 🙂

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

@carissajansen this is insightful, I agree that iterating in public is harder, and the expectations are far too high.

I'm checking out Graphite.

Simon Peter Damian · Answer

@jakeharr

Awesome point, I see a lot of people say don't worry about idea theft, but when your competition is more than capable of executing, they it can be dangerous to just share all your secrets

What are some reasons not to build in public?

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