🪴 Hiding your startup might kill it

The classic Hamletean question “build in public or not to build in public”. 

At one end, we have the linkedin show-it-all founders shouting every pivot and metric even their grandma does not give a sh-t about.

On the other, there’s the (wannabe) cool kids with a stealth startup logo next to their name. Usually led by founders that reveal nothing - because they have nothing.

Which one sounds better?

Forwarded this email? Join 2,000+ founders and sign up!

🌎 Building in public

Building in public forces you to do more than you think. Think more Do more - learn more. This includes learning about your product, ideal customer, real customer and about yourself.

It also opens up many perks, you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise:

• Building a community: Sharing your journey attracts an audience of early adopters, investors and potential employees. Sahil Bloom and Austen Allred are great examples, both using their platforms to grow loyal audiences before their products were even finished.
  

• Open feedback: Posting progress lets you test ideas and receive immediate input from potential users quicker. This saves you tons of time and resources.
  

• Potential to go viral: Public progress updates on Twitter or TikTok can snowball into significant exposure. Wordware, for instance released a Twitter handle roast built on their startup - which went viral. This directly made them to break ProductHunt and transfer many users from that feature onto their real product.
  
  P.S. Use the roast software only if you don’t get offended easily.

  

  
  

• Transparency as a brand: Openness builds trust, especially in industries where authenticity is a differentiator. Showing the highs and the lows creates relatability and positions you as approachable.

Gumroad: Sahil Lavingia shared detailed company metrics—like revenue and payouts to creators—every month. This connected deeply with creators who often felt isolated, building a loyal and engaged user base.

Buffer: Buffer was one of the first to share its product roadmap publicly. Users could vote on features, comment on prototypes, and directly influence development. This approach built a stronger connection with users while raising the bar for competitors.

Loom: Loom used community feedback to shape its product from day one, improving its video tool through user input.

📩 Get a free pitch deck

Raising soon? I’ll send you over Passionfroot’s pitch deck that raised over $3M, just refer one friend via your personal referral link: https://foundersfuel.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

Additionally, I’ll send you notes from the YC’s startup school happening in London on Saturday.

🕵🏽‍♂️ Stealth startup

On the other side of the spectrum is staying in the shadows until you are ready to fully launch. This is much more secure path and is often leveraged by companies that contain an IP they don’t want yoinked.

• Protecting your edge: For startups operating in highly competitive or easily replicable spaces, secrecy keeps your innovations safe from copycats. This is the most used reason to stay hidden in startup (and arguably the only one 😏)
  

• Uninterrupted focus: Building in public means feedback—but not all feedback is helpful. Many people who never achieved what you want to achieve like to provide you with unhelpful advice. Stealth mode lets your team zero in on execution without having to listen to these people.
  

• Strategic entry: Some products (hardware mostly) might benefit of perfecting the product before actual reveal. Think of designer things, computers, robots, etc. This is critical in industries where the first impression with customers or investors can make or break a company.
  
  This makes sure your product won’t look like this:

Stripe: Stripe launched in stealth mode, quietly perfecting its payment processing technology. Founders Patrick and John Collison focused entirely on solving deep technical challenges, ensuring the product was rock-solid before revealing it to public.

Clubhouse: Clubhouse built an invite-only community that sparked curiosity and exclusivity. This strategy let them refine the app with early adopters, creating buzz that turned the platform into a viral sensation almost overnight.

Magic Leap: Magic Leap raised billions while staying in stealth, keeping its mixed-reality technology under wraps for years. This secrecy allowed the company to develop and patent groundbreaking tech without tipping off competitors, fueling intrigue and anticipation.

Safe Superintelligence, Inc: … (can’t tell you more - since I do not know more, yet they raised a bil..)

💭 TL;DR

The choice between public or stealth depends on your product and audience:

• Go Public If:

  • Your product is in a competitive or fast-moving space where early feedback is critical.

  • You’re building for consumers or creators who value transparency.

  • Your goal is to build an audience alongside your product.
    

• Stay Stealth If:

  • You’re in a high-IP industry (e.g., biotech, hardware) where secrecy is strategic.

  • Your target customers care about fully developed solutions, not MVPs.

  • You need time to refine a complex product before releasing (this one is a bait - you really do not need refinement)

✈️ How I Can Help