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The Startup Ideas Podcast

The best businesses are built at the intersection of emerging technology, community, and real human needs.

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business culture

Building in Public Becoming Standard Practice

Timeframe: Already mainstream in indie hacker community, expanding to traditional startups over next 1-2 years

What's Changing

Entrepreneurs are increasingly sharing their entire building process publicly, including struggles, metrics, and daily progress, moving away from stealth mode development

Driving Forces

Social media algorithms rewarding authentic, process-focused content

Community accountability proving more effective than private goal-setting

Success stories of transparent founders building audiences pre-launch

Reduced stigma around failure and struggle sharing

Winners

  • Solo founders who need external accountability
  • Creators who can turn building process into content
  • Platforms supporting transparent development workflows
  • Communities that provide support and feedback

Losers

  • Stealth startups that rely on secrecy for competitive advantage
  • Founders uncomfortable with public vulnerability
  • Traditional PR approaches focused on polished announcements
  • Companies in highly regulated or competitive spaces

How to Position Yourself

1

Share both wins and struggles for authenticity

2

Use building in public as customer development tool

3

Create systematic documentation process

4

Engage genuinely with community feedback

Early Signals to Watch

More traditional VCs encouraging portfolio companies to build publiclyEnterprise startups sharing development progressBuilding in public content getting mainstream media coverageCorporate innovation teams adopting transparent practices

Example Implementation

Hackathon participants like Namesh documented every single day of building, sharing doubts about quitting and daily progress, creating accountability that kept them building and attracted community support.