Build in Public on Twitter: The Complete Guide for SaaS Founders
Building in public means sharing your startup journey transparently on social media -- the wins, the failures, the revenue numbers, and the lessons learned. SaaS founders who build in public on X grow their audiences 3x faster than those who market silently, and companies that share metrics publicly see a 20-30% increase in user trust. This guide gives you the exact framework for what to share, when to share it, and how to turn your building-in-public content into a consistent stream of users and customers without spending a dollar on advertising.
Why Build in Public on X?
X is the single best platform for building in public. It is where SaaS founders, indie hackers, developers, and startup enthusiasts spend their time. The audience is already there and already interested in the exact content you would naturally create.
Here is what building in public actually does for your business:
1. Builds an Audience Before You Launch
Most SaaS founders build in silence for 6-12 months, launch to zero audience, and wonder why nobody signs up. Building in public reverses this. By the time you launch, you have hundreds or thousands of people who have watched your journey, feel invested in your success, and are ready to try your product on day one.
Arvid Kahl built FeedbackPanda to $55K MRR with zero ad spend -- entirely through Twitter threads and blog posts about SaaS metrics. His audience was ready to buy because they had been following his journey for months.
2. Creates Trust Through Transparency
When you share real revenue numbers, real user counts, and real struggles, people trust you. They can see that your product is being used by real people and that you are an honest operator. This trust converts at a dramatically higher rate than any ad campaign.
3. Generates Free Feedback
Sharing what you are working on invites feedback from people who understand your market. You get product ideas, bug reports, feature requests, and validation -- all from tweets that also grow your audience.
4. Compounds Over Time
Every tweet is a piece of your story. Over months, you build a narrative arc that new followers can scroll through. This is content marketing that never expires. A tweet about hitting your first $1K MRR in March is still interesting to new followers discovering your story in October.
5. Attracts Your Ideal Customers
The people who follow SaaS founders building in public are often SaaS founders themselves, developers, marketers, and business owners -- exactly the audience that buys SaaS tools. You are not attracting random followers. You are attracting future customers.
The Build in Public Content Framework
The biggest mistake founders make is thinking build in public means posting random updates. "Working on the dashboard today" is not a build-in-public tweet. It is a diary entry that nobody cares about.
Build-in-public content needs to be interesting, valuable, or emotionally resonant to people who are not you. Here is the framework.
The 5 Content Pillars
Every build-in-public tweet should fall into one of these five categories:
Pillar 1: Milestone Updates (20% of content)
Share concrete achievements with specific numbers. These are the tweets that get the most engagement because numbers are inherently interesting and shareable.
Examples:
- "Hit 100 users this week. Took 47 days from launch. Here's what moved the needle most:"
- "March revenue: $2,340 MRR. Up 23% from February. Two things changed:"
- "Shipped 14 features in January. 3 of them drove 90% of new signups. The other 11 barely mattered."
Why it works: Numbers are specific, credible, and create social proof. Other founders compare your numbers to theirs, which drives engagement.
Pillar 2: Lessons Learned (30% of content)
Share insights from your experience that other founders can apply. This is the highest-value content because it gives your audience something actionable.
Examples:
- "I spent 3 weeks building a feature nobody asked for. The fix: I now only build features that at least 3 customers have requested independently."
- "Our churn dropped 40% when we added one onboarding email. Not a series. One email. Sent 24 hours after signup. Here's what it says:"
- "Biggest mistake this month: I redesigned the landing page when I should have been fixing the billing flow. Revenue problems always come first."
Why it works: Lessons are inherently shareable. People bookmark them, quote-tweet them, and save them for later. They position you as someone who thinks deeply about your business.
Pillar 3: Behind the Scenes (20% of content)
Show what building a SaaS actually looks like day to day. Screenshots, code snippets, design mockups, database queries, customer conversations (anonymized). Make the invisible visible.
Examples:
- Share a screenshot of your analytics dashboard with commentary
- Post a before/after of a UI redesign and explain the reasoning
- Show a customer support conversation that changed how you think about a feature
- Share your actual daily schedule as a solo founder
Why it works: People are curious about how things are made. Behind-the-scenes content feels exclusive and personal, which builds strong audience connection.
Pillar 4: Struggles and Failures (15% of content)
This is what separates authentic build-in-public from self-promotion. Share what went wrong. What broke. What flopped. What kept you up at night.
Examples:
- "Woke up to our database going down at 3am. Lost 4 hours of data. Here's what I learned about backups the hard way:"
- "Launched a pricing change last week. Lost 12% of customers in 3 days. Rolling it back. Here's what I got wrong:"
- "Honest moment: I seriously considered shutting the project down last Tuesday. Revenue has been flat for 2 months. Here's why I'm continuing:"
Why it works: Vulnerability is magnetic on social media. It is rare, it is honest, and it makes people root for you. These tweets often get the most replies because people want to offer encouragement and share their own experiences.
Pillar 5: Observations and Hot Takes (15% of content)
Share your perspective on your industry, tools, trends, and the startup ecosystem. Position yourself as someone who thinks independently.
Examples:
- "Unpopular opinion: most SaaS products have too many features. The ones that win have 3 features done extremely well."
- "Every SaaS founder should spend 1 hour per week doing customer support. Not reading summaries. Actually responding to tickets."
- "The best marketing channel for a bootstrapped SaaS in 2026 is still organic Twitter. Not TikTok. Not YouTube. Not paid ads. The audience is here and they are buying."
Why it works: Opinions generate discussion. People agree, disagree, add nuance. This drives replies, which is the highest-weighted engagement signal in X's algorithm.
The Weekly Posting Schedule
Consistency is what separates founders who build audiences from founders who post occasionally and quit. Here is a realistic weekly schedule that you can maintain even while running a business.
Monday: Milestone or Metric Update
Start the week with numbers. What happened last week? User signups, revenue changes, feature launches, bug counts. Pick one metric and give context around it.
Tuesday: Lesson Learned
Share one thing you learned recently from building your product. Make it specific and actionable.
Wednesday: Thread Day
Publish a longer thread (5-10 tweets) that dives deep into a topic. Threads get 3x more engagement than single tweets, and Wednesday is the highest-engagement day on X.
Thread topic ideas:
- "How I built [feature] in a weekend -- here's the technical approach"
- "7 things I wish I knew before launching my SaaS"
- "Our user onboarding flow, explained step by step"
Thursday: Behind the Scenes
Share a screenshot, a design decision, a conversation, or a process. Show what your day looks like.
Friday: Observation or Hot Take
End the week with an opinion about your industry. Something that sparks discussion.
Weekend: Optional Engagement
If you have time, spend 30 minutes on Saturday or Sunday replying to comments from the week and engaging with other founders' content. This is optional but compounds your growth.
Daily: Reply to Comments (15 minutes)
This is non-negotiable. Every day, spend 15 minutes replying to comments on your tweets. Reply to EVERY comment, even a simple acknowledgment. This drives the 150x reply-chain engagement signal in the algorithm and builds genuine relationships with your audience.
Content Templates You Can Use Today
Template 1: The Revenue Update
[Month] revenue update:
MRR: $[amount] ([+/-]% from last month)
New customers: [number]
Churned: [number]
Net revenue retention: [%]
Biggest win: [one sentence]
Biggest challenge: [one sentence]
Ask me anything about these numbers.
Template 2: The Feature Launch
Just shipped: [feature name]
What it does: [one sentence]
Why we built it: [customer problem it solves]
How long it took: [time]
The surprising part: [unexpected insight from building it]
[Screenshot or video]
Template 3: The Failure Post
I messed up.
[What happened in one sentence]
What I assumed: [your assumption]
What actually happened: [reality]
What I'm doing differently: [the fix]
If you're building something similar, don't make this mistake.
Template 4: The Growth Tactic
[Tactic name] added [number] users to [product] in [timeframe].
Here's exactly how it works:
1. [Step one with specific detail]
2. [Step two]
3. [Step three]
Why most people don't do this: [reason]
Total cost: [dollar amount or "free"]
Total time: [hours per week]
Template 5: The Weekly Reflection Thread
Week [number] of building [product name]:
Users: [number] ([+/- from last week])
Revenue: $[amount]
Code commits: [number]
Support tickets: [number]
Top 3 things I did:
1. [Task with outcome]
2. [Task with outcome]
3. [Task with outcome]
Biggest learning: [one paragraph]
What I'm focused on next week: [priority]
Growing from 0 to 1,000 Followers
The hardest part of building in public is the beginning, when you have zero audience. Here is how to get your first 1,000 followers.
Phase 1: Weeks 1-2 (Finding Your People)
Before posting your own content, spend a week engaging with other builders. Find 20-30 accounts in the build-in-public and SaaS space. Reply thoughtfully to their tweets. Not "great post!" -- add your own experience or ask a genuine question.
This does two things: you learn what kind of content resonates, and those founders start recognizing your name. When you post your first build-in-public tweet, some of them will engage with it.
Phase 2: Weeks 3-6 (Establishing Your Rhythm)
Start posting using the weekly schedule above. You will not get much engagement initially. That is normal. A new account posting to 50 followers will get 2-5 likes per tweet. That is fine.
Focus on quantity and consistency. Post every weekday. Reply to every comment. Engage with other builders for 15-20 minutes daily.
Phase 3: Weeks 7-12 (Finding What Resonates)
By now you have 6-8 weeks of data. Look at your analytics. Which tweets got the most impressions? Which got the most replies? Double down on those formats and topics.
Usually, number-heavy milestone posts and brutally honest failure posts perform best for early-stage builders. Give the audience more of what they respond to.
Phase 4: Months 3-6 (Compounding)
If you have been consistent, you should have 300-800 followers by month 3. Growth accelerates from here because each new follower increases the initial test audience for your tweets, which drives more algorithmic distribution.
Schedule your daily content using OpenTweet's scheduling tools so you never miss a day. Batch-create your weekly content in one Sunday session and let the scheduler handle the rest. Consistency is the only strategy that reliably works, and scheduling is how you maintain it.
Converting Followers to Customers
Building an audience is pointless if it does not drive business results. Here is how to convert build-in-public followers into paying customers without being pushy.
The 95/5 Rule
95% of your content should be pure value -- lessons, insights, behind-the-scenes, stories. 5% should mention your product. This ratio keeps your audience engaged while naturally driving traffic to your product.
Mention Your Product in Context
Do not post "Check out my product!" Instead, mention your product naturally when it is relevant:
- "Hit 100 users on [ProductName] this week" -- the product is part of the milestone
- "Just shipped dark mode in [ProductName] because 23 users asked for it" -- the product is part of the story
- "I use [ProductName] for this because we built exactly this feature" -- the product solves a real problem
Pin Your Best Tweet
Pin a tweet that clearly explains what your product does and links to your landing page. Every new follower sees your pinned tweet. Make it your best pitch.
Respond to Product Questions in DMs
When followers DM you asking about your product, respond personally. These are your warmest leads. A personal conversation converts at 10x the rate of a landing page.
Use Threads for Product Education
Write threads that educate your audience on the problem your product solves. At the end of the thread, naturally mention that your product addresses this problem. This is the highest-converting content format for SaaS founders on X.
Automating Your Build-in-Public Workflow
Building in public does not mean spending 3 hours a day on Twitter. Here is how to maintain a consistent presence in under 30 minutes per day.
Batch Content Creation (Sunday, 45 minutes)
Use OpenTweet's AI Studio to generate content for the week:
- Input your milestone data and let AI draft your Monday metrics post
- Generate 3 variations of your Tuesday lesson-learned tweet
- Draft your Wednesday thread outline and flesh it out
- Prepare your Thursday behind-the-scenes post
- Generate your Friday hot take from a prompt about your industry
Schedule Everything (Sunday, 15 minutes)
Drag all five posts onto OpenTweet's visual calendar at optimal posting times. Wednesday's thread should go out at 9 AM. Other posts at 8-10 AM on their respective days.
Daily Engagement (15 minutes)
Reply to comments on your latest post. Engage with 5-10 other builders' content. This is the only part you need to do in real-time. Everything else is batch-scheduled.
Monthly Review (30 minutes)
Review your analytics. Which posts performed best? Which content pillar drove the most followers? Adjust your ratio for the next month.
If your milestone posts consistently outperform your hot takes, shift to 30% milestones and 10% hot takes. Let the data guide your content mix.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my numbers are small? Should I still share revenue?
Yes. Small numbers are relatable and inspiring to other founders at the same stage. A post saying "Hit $500 MRR today" connects with thousands of founders who are working toward the same milestone. You do not need impressive numbers to build an audience. You need honest numbers and the willingness to share the journey.
How much should I share? Where is the line?
Share metrics, strategies, lessons, and decisions. Do not share proprietary code, customer personal information, or financial details that could be used against you competitively (like exact customer acquisition costs or detailed unit economics at scale). A good rule: share the "what" and the "why" freely. Be more selective with the exact "how" if it is your competitive advantage.
What if I have nothing to share some weeks?
Every week has something. If you did not ship a feature, you learned something. If revenue did not change, you can share why and what you are doing about it. If nothing happened, that itself is a story: "Week 14 of building [product] and I'm stuck. Here's what stalling looks like and what I'm going to try next." Honest stagnation posts often perform better than milestone posts.
Should I build in public on X or LinkedIn?
X is better for SaaS founders, developers, and indie hackers. LinkedIn is better for B2B enterprise SaaS and professional services. If your customers are individual developers or small business owners, X is the clear winner. If your customers are VP-level enterprise buyers, LinkedIn might be more effective. Many founders do both, but start with one platform and be consistent.
Can I build in public for a side project?
Absolutely. Side projects are some of the most compelling build-in-public content because the audience can relate to the constraints (limited time, no funding, solo effort). Some of the biggest build-in-public audiences on X started as side-project chronicles.
The Bottom Line
Building in public is the highest-ROI marketing activity available to SaaS founders. It costs nothing, builds trust, attracts your ideal audience, and compounds over time. The founders who succeed with it share three traits: they are consistent, they are honest, and they provide value in every post.
You do not need a large audience to start. You do not need impressive numbers. You just need to show up, share what you are building, and engage with the community that forms around your journey.
Ready to start building in public consistently? Try OpenTweet free for 7 days -- batch-create a week of content with AI, schedule it to post at optimal times, and never miss a day. $5.99/month after trial.
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