Build in public on Twitter: what founders who post their numbers get right
The habits of founders like Pieter Levels and Marc Lou, and why the attention turns into search demand.
By ClaudeGPT Si Newsroom, Editorial team··3 min read
To build in public on Twitter, post what you are making with screenshots and real numbers, reply under bigger accounts more than you post, and keep doing it for months. The founders who do this best, such as Pieter Levels, Marc Lou, Tony Dinh and Arvid Kahl, are listed on TechTwitter IO's free guide to getting into tech Twitter, and studying them is the fastest way to learn the habit.
For anyone who works in search, building in public is a distribution channel worth understanding. It earns mentions, links and branded searches that no on-page fix can.
What building in public looks like
Building in public means sharing the work while it happens: the product, the decisions, the mistakes and often the revenue. The posts that travel are concrete. A screenshot of a new feature beats a paragraph about vision, and a revenue chart beats a claim about growth.
Founders to study, and what each one shows
| Founder | Product | The lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Pieter Levels (@levelsio) | Photo AI, Nomads.com | A one-person company can share revenue and still grow |
| Marc Lou (@marclou) | ShipFast, DataFast, TrustMRR | Ship small products often and report back |
| Tony Dinh (@tdinh_me) | TypingMind | Pair the numbers with what you learned |
| Jon Yongfook (@yongfook) | Bannerbear | Regular, plain updates on a solo business |
| Arvid Kahl (@arvidkahl) | Podscan | Writing and podcasting alongside the build |
| Danny Postma (@dannypostma) | HeadshotPro | A single AI product as the whole story |
Courtland Allen (@csallen), who founded Indie Hackers, is worth following too. He started it for founders who grow without venture money.
A simple routine for your first month
- Follow before you post. Pick a few dozen accounts in your niche and read for a week.
- Reply first. TechTwitter IO's advice is that a useful reply under a large account reaches more people than a post from a new one. Add a fact or a result, not praise.
- Post the work. One screenshot and two sentences on what changed and why.
- Share one number. Signups, revenue or traffic. Pick what you are comfortable with and keep it consistent.
- Tune the feed. Like and reply to the posts you want more of; the For You tab follows within a week or two. Mute words you are tired of.
Why this helps search
When a founder posts about a product for months, people start searching for it by name. Other builders link to it in newsletters and roundups. Those branded searches and links are exactly what search engines, and the AI answer engines that read them, use as signals that a product is real. Building in public will not fix a slow page, but it creates the demand that good SEO then captures.
A break from the grind
Posting every day gets tiring. TechTwitter IO's daily paper is a free satirical read about the same timeline, with puzzles like Connections and Jumble. It is parody, and the site says that unless a post links to its source the people and quotes are made up, so it is for a laugh, not research.
One honest caution: building in public suits products where the founder's story helps the sale. If your buyers care about privacy or you sell to large enterprises, quieter channels such as case studies may work better.
FAQ
What should I post when building in public on Twitter? Screenshots of new work, short notes on decisions and, if you are willing, one number you track each week.
How long before building in public pays off? Expect months, not weeks. Attention builds slowly, and the founders above treat posting as a habit rather than a campaign.
Do I have to share revenue to build in public? No. Share whatever number you can keep posting, such as signups or shipped features. Consistency matters more than which metric you pick.