Building in community

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Original Article: Building in community

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Many of us know about building in public, but what about building in community?

The lines between them are blurry, but I believe there is enough distinction worthy of exploration.

A look at Building in Public...

Building in public, to me, is about being as open as you feel comfortable about your journey. It's about sharing your experiences and insights. Everyone builds in public differently, and that's ok.

Some choose to share revenue, others do not. Some choose to do long reflective posts, others tweet all the little details as they go. The most valuable part, I think, is that it really is a positive move towards honesty and transparency rather than a fake hustle culture that has long loomed in our capitalistic society.

(This doesn't mean there is no hustle culture, there still is, it just shows up a bit differently.)

Typically, in the creator and founder space, people share learnings and outcomes via Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, blog posts or in specific places like Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, Hackernews or Reddit.

Whilst some of these spaces mentioned are technically communities, they are completely open communities and participating in them often feel more like an audience building exercise rather than building in community. This is perhaps why it is called Building in Public, the focus is mostly on putting information out there and embracing what comes next.

It doesn't mean you can't build authentic relationships through building in public, you can. When communities are built for scale and larger audiences the ability to connect at a deeper level is so much harder. And it is the depth where things can get really special.

I love building in public

I build in public too. I share as much as I can publicly in my own kind of rosie way. 🌈

More recently I've been focusing on building ideas around community building in public, rather than the growth progress of my projects.

My goal is not to convert to customers, but more to convert people's ways of thinking about community building. This in turn helps me think through community building in a new way and feeds into my work. I appreciate everyone who responds to my posts and tweets even when I don't have time to respond.

The best builders in public, imhro, are those that are authentic, transparent and educational. It does take practice and support to get there though. It's a scary thing to do. More people would get to that point with a better support system.

I’ve learned and continue to learn a lot from those that build in public. The sense of comradery can be amazing. The lack of it can also be depressing and discouraging.

Getting the attention and the following is also wonderful, but all too often it changes the vibe. The more you grow, the less depth you can have with people. It becomes something that needs to be managed.

It also becomes a bit more performative. Which again is fine. Nothing wrong with that. But we shouldn't hide away from this fact.

Whether you are starting out or have been building in public for a long time, building in community can always create a valuable layer of depth and support that you can't get 'in public'.

Despite my relative success of being open in public, I've still felt a void that I could not shift. A sense of emptiness. I am myself in public. But I am my deeper and complete self when I build in community.

Building in community is different, the focus is on gradually building deeper relationships and understanding of each other. We do this whilst also sometimes talking about the things we're working ...