Building in public is the best free marketing tactic for indie founders. This guide covers the exact line between credible and cringe, with copy-paste templates, a pre-post checklist, and real UK founder case studies.
The single rule separating credible from cringe is specificity. "We hit a big milestone this week!" is naff. "Month 6: £3,200 MRR, 14.2% churn, and the one onboarding change that halved our support tickets" is credible. Vague updates perform as ego; specific updates perform as value. Brevity compounds this: the shorter and more specific your post, the lower the cringe score. Over-produced, length-padded updates read as AI-generated or performative. Unedited, behind-the-scenes content proves authenticity.
The second rule is to share learnings over performance metrics. Nobody is jealous of a founder sharing what went wrong and why. Everyone is mildly irritated by a founder bragging about numbers with no context. Frame every update around what your reader can take away, and your build-in-public posts become genuinely useful rather than merely self-promotional.
46% of Brits have a side hustle
Monzo and Finder data from 2026 shows nearly half the UK adult population now runs at least one income stream outside their main job, contributing an estimated £70 billion to the UK economy each year.
Specific posts outperform vague ones
Founders who share real numbers and specific decisions consistently outperform those posting vague milestone updates. Specificity is the primary signal separating credible builders from the cringe pile.
Brevity predicts low cringe
Shorter, focused build-in-public updates outperform longer self-congratulatory posts. Sharing learnings over raw performance metrics builds more long-term trust with an audience.
The line between naff and noteworthy is almost always about framing. Here are the exact patterns that separate the builders people follow from the ones people mute.
Do This (Credible)
Share specific numbers with context
"£1,840 MRR after 3 months. Conversion dropped to 2.1% when I added a second pricing tier. Rolling it back next week."
Lead with what went wrong
Failures and near-misses get more genuine engagement than wins. People root for the underdog, not the highlight reel.
Write short, unpolished updates
An update that reads like a text to a friend is more authentic than one that reads like a press release.
Frame around learnings, not metrics alone
"Here is what this number taught me" lands better than just posting the number with exclamation marks.
Ask a genuine question at the end
Inviting discussion signals you are in conversation with your audience, not broadcasting at them.
Post consistently on a predictable schedule
One honest update per week beats five performative ones. Your audience should know roughly when to expect you.
Don't Do This (Naff)
Post vague celebration updates
"Big week for us!" or "Exciting news coming soon!" tells your audience nothing and performs as pure ego.
Over-produce your content
Glossy graphics, marketing copy tone, and polished language make updates look AI-generated or corporate. Authenticity reads as rough.
Share revenue without context
Posting "£10K MRR!" with fireworks is naff. Without churn rate, time taken, or what struggled along the way, it is just bragging.
Ask followers to like, share, or RT
Explicit engagement-farming is the fastest way to lose credibility with an indie audience. Let the content earn the reaction.
Write exclusively about wins
An all-wins feed looks fake. If you only share the highlight reel, readers assume you are hiding something. Failures build trust.
Treat it as a broadcast channel
Build-in-public works because it is conversational. Posting and then ignoring replies is the digital equivalent of handing out flyers.
MediaFast helps you find the right subreddits and craft updates that sound human, not marketing-department. Your story, posted properly.
Use these formats as starting points. Fill in the brackets with your real numbers. The structure is designed to be specific, honest, and brief enough to avoid the cringe threshold.
Template 1: Monthly MRR Update
Best for: Reddit (r/startups, r/SaaS), Indie Hackers, X threads
Why it works: the churn line is what makes this feel honest. Anyone can post an MRR number. Including churn signals you are not hiding anything.
Template 2: Just Shipped Update
Best for: X threads, Reddit r/indiehackers, LinkedIn
Why it works: "what broke along the way" is the trust signal. Polished shipping announcements read as marketing. This reads as a person who actually built something.
Template 3: Lessons Learned Post
Best for: Reddit (r/Entrepreneur), Indie Hackers, LinkedIn long-form
Why it works: the "what I assumed vs. what happened" structure forces specificity. It is impossible to fill this in without actually sharing something real, which is precisely why it reads as authentic.
Run through this before posting any build-in-public update. If you cannot honestly tick most of these, the post is not ready.
Does this post contain at least one specific number?
A percentage, revenue figure, user count, time period, or conversion rate. Vague posts without anchors read as naff.
Am I sharing a learning, not just a result?
Results without context are just bragging. What did this number teach you? What would you do differently?
Is the post under 300 words?
Brevity is the strongest predictor of low cringe. If you need more space, use bullet points, not prose padding.
Does it contain at least one honest failure or complication?
If the post is 100% wins and zero struggle, it does not reflect reality and your audience will feel it.
Is the title a fact, not a feeling?
"Month 5: £4,200 MRR and the landing page change that drove it" beats "Month 5 was incredible!" every single time.
Have I avoided using exclamation marks more than once?
Multiple exclamation marks are the clearest signal that you are performing excitement rather than reporting it.
Does it end with a genuine question for the reader?
A real question invites dialogue. "Has anyone else dealt with this?" is conversation. "Excited to keep building!" is not.
Would I be comfortable if a potential investor read this?
Build-in-public posts rank in Google. Anything naff enough to embarrass you in a professional context should not be posted.
Does it avoid naming or exposing individual customer details?
You can share that you talked to a customer. You should not share who they are or what they said without permission.
Is this update something I would have found useful six months ago?
The best filter: would this post have helped a version of you who was earlier in the journey? If not, rethink it.
These are anonymised composites based on real patterns observed in the indie hacker community. Names are illustrative. The numbers and mistakes are real archetypes.
Marcus, founder of a B2B invoice tool, Manchester
Solo founder, bootstrapped, 9 months in
Month 9: £2,800 MRR
Churn hit 8.3% this month. That is the worst it has been. I traced it back to the onboarding flow I redesigned in month 7, specifically the step where I ask for bank connection before the user has created a single invoice.
Moved that step to post first-invoice. Churn dropped to 4.1% in the first two weeks since the change. Still watching.
Anyone else found that asking for sensitive integrations too early tanks activation? Curious what you did about it.
Why this works:
Jordan, building a productivity app, Bristol
2-person team, VC-backed, 4 months post-launch
Big week for the team!
We have been heads down building something incredible and we cannot wait to share it with you all. The response from our early users has been absolutely phenomenal and we are so grateful for every single one of you who has believed in us from day one.
Stay tuned for a major announcement next week. Big things coming!!! Follow to not miss it.
Like and share if you are excited!
Why this is naff:
Priya, solo founder of a content scheduling tool, London
Bootstrapped, 14 months in, side hustle turned full-time
I almost shut down the product last month. Here is why I did not.
March: £1,100 MRR. April: £890 MRR. That 19% drop hit me hard. Three of my five highest-paying customers churned in the same week, all citing the same reason: my scheduling calendar was too complicated compared to a competitor they had switched to.
I spent two weeks interviewing 12 churned customers. What I heard was not "your product is bad." It was "your product is for people who already know how to schedule content." I had built for power users and priced for beginners.
Rebuilt the entry flow entirely. Back to £1,240 MRR as of last Friday. Not celebratory yet, just cautiously optimistic and a lot more humble about assumptions.
Why this works:
After observing hundreds of build-in-public accounts across Reddit, X, and Indie Hackers, these are the consistent patterns in the ones that build genuine audiences rather than just follower counts.
Tools like MediaFast can help you find the right subreddits and format your updates to match each community's culture, but the underlying content still has to be honest and specific to land well.
They treat the reader as a peer, not an audience
The best build-in-public posts read like an email to a fellow founder, not a blog post for a marketing site. The informality is intentional.
They include the number they are least proud of
Churn rate, failed experiments, bounce rates that did not move despite a redesign. Including the uncomfortable metric is the single clearest signal of authenticity.
They make it easy to extract a lesson
Every credible update contains at least one transferable insight. You should be able to read it and immediately think: "I could apply this to my own situation."
They respond to every comment for at least 48 hours post-publish
Build-in-public is conversational by definition. The engagement window after posting is where the real value happens. Credible founders stay in the thread.
They never post two updates in a row that are both wins
The rhythm of a credible feed alternates between progress and setback. Two consecutive success posts triggers the highlight-reel alarm in the reader.
Their writing style does not change month-to-month
Over-produced content looks AI-generated. Unedited, behind-the-scenes content proves authenticity. The founders who sound the same on a bad month as a good month are the ones who build lasting trust.
They cross-link to earlier updates to show the full arc
Linking back to a post where you predicted something, then reporting what actually happened, is one of the most credible things you can do. It proves you are playing a long game, not cherry-picking moments.
Building in public is one piece of the puzzle. These guides cover the adjacent tactics that compound with it.
Not all platforms reward the same build-in-public style. Here is where each channel works best and why.
Reddit rewards long-form, specific posts with real data. A well-structured update on r/startups or r/SaaS can rank in Google for months and send sustained traffic back to your product. It also has the highest-quality feedback community for early-stage products.
Key tip:
Avoid any language that sounds like a press release. Reddit users are exceptionally good at detecting marketing tone and will downvote it into oblivion.
X (Twitter)
Best for reach and founder-to-founder relationshipsX threads work well for milestone posts and real-time updates. The build-in-public hashtag has an active community and content spreads faster here than anywhere else. Good for building direct relationships with other UK indie hackers.
Key tip:
Use threads for detailed monthly updates, single posts for quick wins or questions. Avoid posting the same content on the same day you post it on Reddit.
If your product targets business buyers, LinkedIn is the place where your potential customers are most likely to discover you through build-in-public content. The algorithm strongly favours personal founder stories.
Key tip:
Frame updates as professional insights rather than personal diary entries. Your audience includes procurement managers and heads of operations, not just other founders.
These are the patterns that reliably kill credibility in build-in-public content. Most founders make at least two of these early on.
The eternal teaser post
"Something big is coming." "Cannot say yet but this week is wild." These posts perform pure anticipation marketing with zero informational value. They are the indie hacker equivalent of a tabloid headline. Cut them entirely.
The round-number fixation
"Just hit 1,000 users!" sounds naff because it is too clean. "Crossed 1,000 users this morning, though daily active is still only 22%" sounds credible because it adds friction to the story. Real milestones have rough edges.
Announcing features nobody asked to be announced
Not every shipped line of code deserves a post. If the feature does not solve a visible user pain, sharing it reads as "look what I made" rather than "here is a solution to your problem."
Performing vulnerability rather than sharing it
"I cried in the shower this week building this. It is so hard." is naff if it is followed by a product pitch. Authentic vulnerability is specific: "I lost £600 in a week of AWS bills because I misconfigured S3 caching. Here is what happened."
Flooding the feed after a long silence
Disappearing for a month and then posting five updates in two days looks desperate and confuses your audience. Consistent weekly output, even when things are slow, builds more trust than burst posting.
Cross-posting identical content on the same day
Posting the exact same update on Reddit, X, and LinkedIn on the same day reads as automated and impersonal. Adapt the format for each platform. The core update can be the same, but the framing and length should match where it is being posted.
Calling yourself a founder without building anything yet
The cringe-est form of build-in-public is the "aspiring founder" who posts daily about their idea without ever shipping. Your audience will follow the journey once there is a journey. Start with a product, then start posting.
Build-in-public is not an all-or-nothing choice. Most founders who do it well operate somewhere in the middle of a spectrum, sharing enough to build trust while protecting what genuinely needs protecting.
What you share
What you protect
Best for
Best when you are pre-revenue or in the first six months. The openness builds an audience before you have a product worth selling.
What you share
What you protect
Best for
Best when you have product-market fit and competitors who could copy your approach. Share the journey without giving away the map.
What you share
What you protect
Best for
Best when you are in a competitive market and the risk of copycats outweighs the distribution benefit of sharing. Many founders who started in public quietly shift here.
Build-in-public is not a universal fit. It amplifies some business models dramatically and adds zero value to others. The Mercury Bank research team identified which go-to-market motions pair well with public transparency, and which ones do not.
Works Well With
Founder-led sales
Your story is the product. Buyers research the founder before the company. Build-in-public accelerates that trust-building process.
Community-driven growth
If your growth depends on word of mouth within a niche community, transparency builds social capital in that community faster than anything else.
Developer tools and API products
Technical audiences respect builders who show their work. Sharing the development process builds credibility before the docs do.
Product-led growth (PLG)
PLG products grow when users share them. Build-in-public creates shareable content around the product without a marketing budget.
Works Poorly With
Enterprise and sales-led growth
Enterprise buyers need confidentiality. Sharing your pipeline, deal sizes, or customer names publicly can break deals before they close.
Regulated industries
Healthcare, fintech, and legal products often have compliance constraints on what you can disclose publicly about customers or operations.
Easily copyable ideas
If your competitive moat is execution speed and there is nothing proprietary about your approach, sharing your roadmap helps competitors more than it helps you.
Very early stealth concepts
Some ideas genuinely benefit from launching before competitors can react. In those cases, stealth until launch and then open up.
The biggest mistake new builders make is starting on a broadcast platform before they have any audience. A thread with zero likes on Twitter is demoralising and invisible. Community-first platforms are different: your content surfaces to readers who are already there, regardless of your follower count.
WIP.co
Indie hackers and bootstrapped foundersA private community where members share daily progress ("todos done") and get genuine feedback. Excellent for accountability and early supporters. Free to join.
When: Start here. WIP is the most supportive zero-follower environment for build-in-public content.
Indie Hackers
Bootstrapped founders and solo buildersThe best platform specifically for revenue updates. A monthly revenue milestone post on Indie Hackers gets read by thousands of relevant founders even from a brand-new account. The community actively rewards honesty and specific numbers.
When: Use for monthly revenue updates from your very first month. Zero follower count required.
Reddit (r/startups, r/SaaS, r/indiehackers)
Broad founder and indie hacker communitiesA well-written post ranks in Google search for months and drives sustained traffic independent of follower count. The upvote system means good content reaches the top regardless of account age, with the caveat that you need some karma before posting links.
When: Use after 2 to 4 weeks of comment participation. Best for depth-first updates with data.
X (Twitter)
Founders, investors, and tech community broadlyThe #buildinpublic hashtag has an active community, but content reaches far fewer people when your account is new. Twitter works best once you have 500 to 1,000 followers from other community-first platforms.
When: Add Twitter once you have built some presence elsewhere. Do not start here at zero.
This page covers the "how to do it without looking naff" angle: the cringe-avoidance rules, templates, and case studies. If you want the broader strategic guide covering what to share, when to share it, and how to convert your audience into customers, the companion page has all of that.
Read: Build in Public, The Full PlaybookSix questions UK founders actually ask about building in public, answered without the waffle.
Building in public means sharing your startup or side-project journey openly with an online audience. You post real numbers, honest decisions, failures, and wins as they happen, rather than waiting for a polished launch. The idea originated in the indie hacker community and has since become one of the most effective organic growth tactics for founders who want to grow an audience before, during, and after launch.
Anchor the number to context, not ego. Instead of "We hit £2K MRR!" (performative), try: "Month 4 update: £2,100 MRR. Conversion rate dropped from 4.2% to 2.8% when I changed the pricing page. Here is what I changed and what I think happened." The number is the same, but the framing makes it useful rather than boastful. Data plus reasoning is always credible. Data alone, especially with fireworks, lands as naff.
Avoid vague celebration posts with no numbers ("Big week for us!"), repeated asks for likes or shares, anything that reads like a press release, posts that use customer data or private conversations without permission, and anything written purely to perform vulnerability rather than actually share learning. Also avoid over-sharing sensitive business details like investor terms, cap table specifics, or legal matters.
Consistency beats frequency. One honest, specific weekly update outperforms five vague daily posts. A sensible cadence for UK founders is a weekly metrics or progress update, one lesson-learned thread per fortnight, and a product decision post once a month. If you cannot keep up daily posting without padding, do not post daily. Your audience will respect a quieter, higher-quality signal over a noisy, low-quality one.
Yes, when done with specificity and consistency. Founders who share real numbers and genuine learnings attract audiences who feel invested in their success. That emotional investment converts. Many founders report that 10 to 30 percent of their early customers came directly from their build-in-public audience. It also shortens the trust-building period because people feel they already know you before they ever try your product.
Reddit (r/startups, r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/indiehackers) is excellent for longer, data-rich updates and tends to rank well in Google search, giving your posts long-term traffic value. X (Twitter) is useful for quick milestone posts and building direct founder relationships. LinkedIn works well if your product targets B2B buyers. Indie Hackers is the most supportive community for revenue updates specifically. Most credible UK builders use Reddit for depth and X for reach.
