Building in public became bad default advice. It worked when it was rare. Now every founder is posting the same MRR chart, launch thread, roadmap tease, lessons learned recap. The problem: Your audience becomes other founders. Your buyers are usually somewhere else. Your roadmap becomes free competitive intel. Your numbers become an anchor in future conversations. Your decisions start bending toward content instead of customers. And the time cost is real. Better move: Pick 2-3 places where your actual ICP hangs out. Be useful there every day. Share customer outcomes, not founder diary entries. Write industry insights, not therapy threads. Do personal outbound that does not feel automated. Build trust in public. Build the product in private.
