Here's the tea: Building in public isn't just another marketing buzzword to add to your LinkedIn bingo card. It's the difference between being that brand everyone talks about and... well, whatever your brand is doing right now. (No offense. Okay, maybe a little offense.)

Think you're ready to rip off the corporate band-aid? Fair warning: This isn't your grandfather's transparency. This is full-frontal business exposure in the age of TikTok trolls and Reddit detectives. Some brands are building empires by sharing their mistakes in real-time. Others are accidentally writing their own obituaries 280 characters at a time.

The Raw Truth About Building in Public (Warning: This Might Hurt)

Plot twist: While you're hiding in your corporate bunker perfecting brand guidelines, Liquid Death is out there making $45 million selling water - yes, water - by basically roasting their customers alive. And those customers? They're not just taking it - they're asking for seconds.

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The "We Have Nothing to Hide" Revolution

Remember when Morning Brew did the corporate equivalent of posting their diary online? They exposed their entire revenue dashboard while traditional marketers clutched their NDAs in horror. Fast forward: They sold for $75 million.

Spoiler alert: Transparency isn't just a buzzword - it's your new growth hack.

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The Good: When Oversharing Becomes Your Superpower

The "Show Me The Money" Effect

‍Buffer didn't just lift the curtain - they ripped it down and set it on fire. They published their entire salary formula, including what their CEO makes while watching Netflix. The result? Their job applications exploded like a tech startup's valuation in 2021 - tripling overnight.

The R&D Reality Show

‍While your brand is playing hide-and-seek with product development, Glossier turned their mistakes into must-watch content. Every face-plant, every "back to the drawing board" moment, every "maybe this wasn't our best idea" - all public. Plot twist: They built a $1.2 billion valuation by letting their community watch them fail forward.

P.S. While you were reading this, another brand just went viral by accidentally leaking their own mistakes. On purpose.

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The Bad, "Maybe We Shouldn't Have Said That" Chronicles

The Numbers Nightmare

Remember when MVMT Watches decided to play show-and-tell with their declining sales figures? (Spoiler: This story doesn't have a happy ending.) Their competitors pounced on those numbers like vultures at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Three months and one brutal market positioning war later, 25% of their staff were updating their LinkedIn profiles.

The TMI Tragedy

‍Plot twist: Not every behind-the-scenes moment deserves its own Instagram Story. Away learned this the hard way when their internal Slack messages leaked faster than a Gen Z trend on TikTok. Their "radically transparent" brand image shattered faster than an iPhone screen without a case .

Reality Check: Being transparent doesn't mean live-streaming your company's therapy sessions. Sometimes the best story is the one you don't tell.

P.S. Turns out, some skeletons are better left in their corporate closets. Better yet, do better next time Away!

P.P.S. While you were reading this, three other brands just overshared their way into a PR crisis. Don't be like them.

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The Ugly: The Parts That'll Make Your Board Members Sweat

The Copycat Catastrophe

When Gymshark decided to share their entire marketing playbook (bless their transparent hearts), they basically handed out a "How to Compete With Gymshark" manual. Six months later, 47 knockoff brands were sliding into their market share like DMs on a verified Instagram account.

Brutal Truth: Being transparent doesn't mean being naive. Sometimes your "radical honesty" is just free consulting for your competitors.

The Real-Time Reality Show Nobody Asked For

Think those quarterly reports give you anxiety? Try having your daily revenue numbers dissected by TikTok trolls faster than a Taylor Swift relationship timeline. Building in public isn't just transparency - it's performing surgery while the whole internet plays backseat doctor.

The New Rules of Not Shooting Yourself in the Digital Foot

Selective Transparency (AKA Strategic Oversharing)

Share what serves your community, not what feeds your ego. When Parade documented their sustainable packaging fails, including that time they accidentally created compostable confetti, their customer loyalty jumped 40%. Turns out, people love a brand that can laugh at itself.

Real-Time Adaptation (Or: Dance, Monkey, Dance)

Reality Check: Your community will call you out faster than a Twitter fact-checker. While you're crafting the perfect PR response, your competitors are already implementing the feedback and posting their "thanks for keeping us honest" TikTok.

The Content Mandate

Everything is content - every face-plant, every victory lap, every "well, that didn't work" moment. But here's the catch: you need to be more interesting than your customer's TikTok feed. Nobody's sticking around to watch your CEO read quarterly reports like it's a bedtime story.

The Wake-Up Call

While you were reading this manifesto on public building, three DTC brands just shared their entire business strategy on Twitter. Two of them are about to become cautionary tales. One's about to build an empire.

The question isn't whether to build in public anymore - that ship has sailed, hit an iceberg, and been documented in a viral thread. The real question is: are you brave enough to let your customers watch you fail your way to success?

P.S. Yes, this entire article was written in public. Including that typo you just spotted. That's kind of the point.

🌶️ P.P.S. While you were cringing at the thought of building in public, your competitors just gained 1,000 followers by sharing their biggest mistake of the week. Just saying.

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