E8: Building in Public vs. Building in Private (The Truth About Transparency)

Founder Reality

Everyone's telling you to build in public. Share your revenue, your struggles, your team changes. Document everything. I'm calling BS.

Most "building in public" is just startup theater with better marketing. Here's why - using my own expensive lessons about what to share, when to share it, and why most founders get transparency completely backwards.

The performance theater problem:

• Stripe screenshots cropped to show only good months - I call it "number porn"
• "Just hit $100K MRR!" posts with zero context about profit, team costs, or the decline that happened right before
• Seasonal AI wrapper businesses tweeting "$100K revenue!" during their 2-month spike before inevitable plateau
• Revenue flexing without sharing the full story - it's curated highlight reels, not transparency

What real transparency looks like:

• Buffer's radical approach: Real-time revenue graphs, team salaries, the good AND the bad. When COVID hit in March 2020, their revenue dropped 25%. Did they hide it? Nope. The entire 3-year recovery is documented publicly.
• The difference: Even Buffer probably keeps 80-90% behind the scenes. But what they share is genuinely transparent.

My transparency framework - what I share vs. keep private:

What I DO share:

• Expensive lessons with specific numbers when possible
• Major decisions after I've processed them (not in real-time)
• Industry observations that help other founders
• Philosophical shifts with reasoning behind them

What I DON'T share:

• Live strategic decisions while they're happening
• Team reduction from 14→5 people until 2 years later (out of respect)
• Partnership negotiations ($3-5M deal I walked away from - shared weeks later, not same-day)
• Anything involving third parties without their consent
• Business disputes or private matters affecting others' reputations

The Sunday Night Test for transparency: If sharing something feels like work or performance, I don't share it. If it feels like genuine value to other founders, I do.

Why I started this podcast: Twitter has context limits. The real stuff - the nuance, the actual decision-making process, the full story - doesn't fit in tweets. This show bridges the gap between performative transparency and total privacy.

The bottom line: Real building in public means sharing what you learned, not what you're learning. And definitely not just sharing when the Stripe screenshots look good.

My approach: Time-delay major events. Share expensive lessons, not cheap drama. Respect your counterparties. Lead with value, not vulnerability optimized for engagement.

The moment you optimize vulnerability for engagement, you stop being vulnerable.

New episodes Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 9am EST. No startup theater, no highlight reel - just real founder lessons.

Daily thoughts: @TheGeorgePu on Twitter/X
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