Why We Really Build in Public (And Why It Matters More Than Ever)
"Building in public" isn't what it used to be.
Just two years ago, sharing your work-in-progress meant slow, methodical updates.
Today? You can ship ideas, iterate on feedback, and pivot directions at lightning speed—largely thanks to AI tools that compress months of work into hours.
But this acceleration has created a new problem: the faster you build and share, the more questions people have about your real motivations.
The Surface Story vs. The Real Story
I recently came across a LinkedIn post from someone (link in the footer) who was "publicly shamed" for using AI in their content creation. Eight months later, they'd grown to 600,000+ followers and 100,000+ newsletter subscribers. Their message was essentially: "I proved the haters wrong."
It's a satisfying narrative. David vs. Goliath. The underdog who ignored the critics and won.
But it misses something important.
The criticism wasn't really about AI usage—it was about motivation. People weren't asking "How did you make this?" They were asking "Why are you making this?"
And here's the thing: they're going to keep asking that question, whether you use AI or not.
The Usual Suspects: Fame and Fortune
When people see you building in public, they typically assume one of two motivations:
Fame - You want to be well-known, recognized, maybe even internet-famous.
Fortune - You're selling something, building an audience to monetize, or positioning yourself for better opportunities.
These aren't wrong motivations. There's nothing inherently bad about wanting recognition for your work or building a business around your expertise. The old expression "fame and fortune" exists because these are fundamental human drives.
But they're not the only motivations—and for many builders, they're not even the primary ones.
The Deeper Motivations
After years of watching people build in public (and doing it myself), I've noticed three other motivations that often matter more than fame or fortune:
1. Validation
Do my ideas make sense? Are they useful? To what degree?
Building in private means working in an echo chamber. You can convince yourself that your brilliant insight is revolutionary when it might be fundamentally flawed—or obvious to everyone else.
Public building forces you to test ideas against reality. The market, your peers, even random strangers become a distributed quality-assurance team. Sometimes they'll tell you your idea is terrible. Sometimes they'll help you make it better. Both outcomes are valuable.
2. Curiosity
How else are other people thinking about this problem?
The best part about sharing your work isn't the validation—it's the unexpected perspectives that emerge. Someone will comment with an approach you never considered. A connection will emerge that you couldn't have planned.
When you build in public, you're not just sharing your work. You're starting a conversation. And conversations, especially ones about complex problems, tend to go in directions you couldn't have predicted.
3. Connection
Who else is interested in this? Can we go further together?
Some of the most meaningful professional relationships start with someone saying, "Hey, I saw what you're working on, and I'm thinking about something similar."
Building in public is a way of signaling your interests and inviting collaboration. It's how you find your people—not just customers or followers, but actual thinking partners.
The AI Acceleration Factor
AI tools have made building in public both easier and more complicated.
Easier because you can prototype faster, test more ideas, and iterate based on feedback in real-time.
More complicated because the speed itself becomes suspicious. If you can create something in hours that used to take weeks, people wonder: Is this authentic? Are you just gaming the system?
But here's what I've learned: the tool doesn't determine the motivation. Whether you're using AI, no-code platforms, or building everything from scratch, the question remains the same: Why are you sharing this?
If you're using AI to rapidly test and iterate on ideas because you're genuinely curious about a problem—that's authentic building in public.
If you're using AI to churn out content because you think volume equals influence—that's probably going to feel hollow, both to you and your audience.
Knowing Your Why (And Being Honest About It)
The truth is, most of us have mixed motivations. I want validation for my ideas and I'd be happy if that validation led to business opportunities. I'm genuinely curious about how other people solve problems and I like the ego boost when someone smart engages with my work.
The key isn't having pure motivations—it's being honest about the mix.
When you're clear about why you're building in public, several things happen:
- You attract the right people. If you're motivated by curiosity and connection, you'll attract other curious people who want to connect. If you're motivated by business opportunities, you'll attract potential customers and partners.
- You handle criticism better. When someone questions your motives, you can respond honestly instead of defensively.
- You make better decisions about what to share. Not every project needs to be public. Sometimes you're just not ready for feedback, and that's okay.
The Permission You Don't Need
Here's what hasn't changed about building in public: you don't need anyone's permission to start.
Yes, people will question your motivations. They'll assume you're just chasing fame and fortune. Some will criticize your tools, your approach, or your results.
But if you're building in public for validation, curiosity, and connection—if you're genuinely trying to learn and improve and find your people—then the criticism becomes data, not judgment.
The cynics aren't your audience anyway.
Your audience is the people who see your work and think, "I'm curious about that too" or "I'm working on something similar" or "I never thought about it that way."
Those are your people. And they're worth building for, regardless of what tools you use to get there.
Start With Why
Before you share your next project update, ask yourself: What am I hoping to get from this?
If the answer is fame and fortune, own it. There's nothing wrong with those goals.
If the answer is validation, curiosity, and connection, own that too. Those might be even more valuable in the long run.
But whatever your motivation, be honest about it—with your audience and with yourself.
Because building in public isn't really about the building. It's about the relationships you form, the ideas you discover, and the person you become through the process of sharing your work with the world.
And that's true whether you're using AI, no-code tools, or building everything by hand.
The tools change. The motivation matters.
Written by hand as a LinkedIn Post.
From it – generated this article by Claude (1 prompt, <10 seconds).