‘Build in public’ mantra
Kevin Szabo summarized a personal-branding tactic as a 'personal brand secret'—build in public by sharing failures, learnings, and in-progress builds for radical transparency. (x.com) The post framed openness about setbacks and ongoing work as outperforming polished perfection on social platforms. (x.com)
A creator-growth tactic that once lived in startup circles is now being pitched as a social-media playbook: show the work before it is finished, and show the misses too. (kevinszabo14.com) Kevin Szabo, a writer and X coach who says he helps entrepreneurs grow on the platform, has published guides on building an audience on X around daily posting, networking, and public documentation. His broader pitch is that creators should post lessons, experiments, and setbacks instead of waiting for polished wins. (kevinszabo14.com) The phrase “build in public” comes from startup culture, where founders share product progress, revenue, and operating decisions in real time. Failory’s January 10, 2024 guide describes it as transparent sharing of wins, struggles, learnings, anecdotes, and business metrics, and contrasts it with “stealth” startups that stay quiet until launch. (failory.com) One of the clearest early models is Buffer, which says it has been a transparent company since 2010 and has shared finances and salaries since 2013. Buffer’s public dashboard still lists monthly active users at 225,319, monthly recurring revenue at $2.0 million, and annual recurring revenue at $24.6 million. (buffer.com) That approach fits a wider shift in social platforms toward trust signals over brand gloss. Sprout Social said in its 2024 content strategy report that it surveyed more than 4,500 consumers about what they want from social content, while Google, citing an Interactive Advertising Bureau and Talk Shoppe study, said 92% of advertisers surveyed viewed creator-produced content as “premium.” (sproutsocial.com) (business.google.com) The trust question is now central because creator marketing has become a bigger ad business. The Interactive Advertising Bureau said in November 2025 that creator-economy ad spend was expected to reach $37 billion in 2025, even as artificial intelligence use and measurement standards raised concerns for brands. (iab.com) Research on the creator economy also frames authenticity as a live tension, not a solved formula. A 2024 editorial in the *International Journal of Research in Marketing* said one of the field’s central dilemmas is how creators balance authenticity with commercial pressures on social platforms. (sciencedirect.com) Advocates say public building creates a feedback loop before a product, newsletter, or service is finished. Indie Hackers describes the practice as a way to cultivate community, gather user feedback regularly, and stay accountable while work is still in progress. (indiehackers.com) Critics say the same openness can become a liability as projects grow. A March 2026 essay on CEO Weekly, citing entrepreneur Arvid Kahl and podcast company Transistor’s decision to remove much of its former “Open” page, argued that public roadmaps, pricing tests, and churn data can turn into a competitive leak. (ceoweekly.com) So the tactic now being sold to creators is not really about confession for its own sake. It is a distribution strategy borrowed from open startups: publish the process, let the audience watch the edits, and turn unfinished work into the product people follow. (buffer.com) (failory.com)
