Why I'm Building in Public

After 28 years of building software in private — behind corporate firewalls, under NDAs, in stealth mode — I've made a decision that feels both terrifying and liberating.

I'm going to build in public.

The Private Builder Era

For most of my career, the default mode was privacy. You built behind closed doors. You shipped when everything was perfect. You didn't talk about what you were working on because someone might steal the idea, or worse, see it before it was ready.

This made sense in a world where distribution was controlled by gatekeepers. You needed everything polished before you showed it to anyone. But that world doesn't exist anymore.

Why Now?

Three reasons:

1. Distribution is the new moat. Ideas are cheap. Execution is what matters. Sharing your execution journey doesn't hurt you — it helps you. It builds an audience that's invested in your success before you ever ask them for anything.

2. Accountability drives shipping. When you tell people what you're building, you have to actually build it. The public commitment becomes a forcing function. No more hiding in "almost ready" limbo.

3. The best connections come from sharing. Every meaningful professional relationship I've built in the last five years started because I shared something publicly. An article. A thread. A GitHub repo. Building in public multiplies those opportunities.

What "Building in Public" Means to Me

It doesn't mean sharing every line of code or every internal metric. It means:

• Writing about the problems I'm solving and why they matter
• Sharing the decisions behind the architecture, not just the final result
• Being honest about what's working and what isn't
• Showing the process, not just the product
• Letting people in on the journey

The Fear

I won't pretend this isn't scary. Putting unfinished work out into the world goes against every instinct I've developed over 28 years. The voice in my head says: "Wait until it's ready. Wait until it's perfect. What if people judge it?"

But here's what I've learned: people don't judge the builder who's in the arena. They judge the one who never shows up.

What's Coming

Over the next few months, you'll see:

• Regular updates on LeadzTrak's development
• Architecture decisions and why I made them
• Metrics and lessons from the build process
• The messy middle that most people hide

If you're building something too — whether in public or in private — I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a message or join the newsletter.

Let's build.