Building in Public
Sometimes, you see a company doing something and you know that other companies are going to try to copy it. Hotmail’s signup link at the bottom of every e-mail. Gmail’s invite-only waitlist. Superhuman’s high-touch onboarding. (Why is it always the e-mail companies? 🤔) One company comes up with a new way to stand out from the crowd, and the crowd follows suit.
I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen to Elliot, the “headless commerce” startup that has hired a videographer to chronicle the company’s early days.
By letting people behind the curtain, Elliot educates, demystifies, and creates FOMO. When they take pics from a potential customer’s office, they create FOMO among other potential customers. Ditto for investors. I can’t imagine how much inbound they’re getting from potential employees who want to be a part of the fun they’re clearly having together.
It’s a really smart move, and it works for them because of the personalities involved and because of the product they’re building. What better way to show customers that they’re ahead of the e-commerce curve than to be visibly ahead of the curve in their twitter feeds every day. And as a customer, the chance to get pushed out to their growing following is a big draw. They’re building their own unique loop.
The idea of building in public has fascinated me for a while. I’m not going to copy Elliot - I have a face for writing and I’m not sure how engaging a video of me working solo from home would be - but when I started thinking about starting a company, I knew I wanted to chronicle and share the journey for a few reasons:
Win or lose, it will be valuable to look back on the way I was thinking about the process at the time. I’ll have a public record to keep myself honest and learn.
I strongly believe that we learn better together than we do alone, and that groups are more fun than solo quests. By putting what I’m thinking out there, I can tap into your collective wisdom. Writing has led to conversations that have fundamentally changed the way I think about building Not Boring - the biggest of which was the shift from building a space first and then finding the community to building the community first and then finding the space. If you read something and think, “Why is he doing that that way, it seems like a mistake?” let me know!
Starting a company is a weird process - it’s hard but not in the way you think it might be, it’s full of ups and downs, there are so many little things to take care of that you wouldn’t expect, and it evolves as you have conversations with potential customers, investors, and people who have done it before. I hope that sharing some of what I’m doing and going through will demystify it a little bit and show other people that they can do it, too.
Sharing what I’m doing and why is a great way to attract likeminded people - Not Boring members for now, employees and investors in the future. It’s still always a little embarrassing sending the newsletter or tweeting, but it’s been worth it for the incredible group of members that we’re bringing together.
I’ve been trying to share throughout the process - from my analysis of IRL Member Communities, to the mental roller coaster, to how writing can benefit early stage companies, to the Not Boring launch and website building.
Now, I want to be more intentional and consistent with what I’m sharing - maybe a Not Boring section of the e-mail with something I learned or experienced that week, how I think about strategy, and soon, fundraising, team building, product roadmap, location launching, and growth.