I spent years building things nobody knew about. Products, content strategies, business plans — all created in isolation, launched with a prayer, and met with crickets. Not because the work was bad, but because nobody was watching when it mattered.
The biggest growth hack I've ever discovered isn't a TikTok trick or an algorithm exploit. It's embarrassingly simple: let people watch you build.
The Stealth Mode Trap
There's a seductive myth in entrepreneurship that goes like this: work in secret, build something amazing, launch it to the world, and watch the money roll in. Silicon Valley calls it "stealth mode." Entrepreneurs call it "waiting until it's ready."
I call it the fastest way to fail quietly.
Here's what actually happens in stealth mode:
- You spend months building something nobody asked for
- You have zero audience ready to buy on launch day
- You get no feedback during development, so the product misses the mark
- You launch to silence, get discouraged, and move on to the next "stealth" project
- Repeat until broke
I know because I've done it. Multiple times. The projects I built in silence died in silence. The projects I built in public thrived.
What Building in Public Actually Looks Like
Building in public doesn't mean livestreaming your entire workday or sharing your revenue down to the penny (though some people do). It means documenting your process as you go and sharing it with your audience.
When I was developing my book empire — 13 books, 700,000+ words — I talked about it on TikTok. Not just the finished products, but the process. The late nights. The editing marathons. The cover design decisions. The moments of doubt. The breakthroughs.
People watched. They got invested. By the time the books were ready, I had an audience that felt like they'd been part of the journey. They weren't just customers — they were participants.
When people watch you build something, they feel ownership in its success. They don't just buy your product — they champion it.
The Compound Effect of Documenting
Every piece of "building in public" content serves multiple purposes simultaneously:
1. It's marketing. Every behind-the-scenes post is content that feeds the algorithm. Your process is your marketing plan. No separate marketing budget required.
2. It's proof of work. When you share your process, you're demonstrating competence in real-time. This builds credibility faster than any polished marketing campaign. People trust what they can see being built.
3. It's free feedback. Your audience tells you what resonates before you finish building. "Love this feature, hate that one" is infinitely more valuable when you hear it during development instead of after launch.
4. It's accountability. Once you've told 10,000 people you're building something, you have to finish it. Public commitments create unstoppable momentum.
5. It compounds. Each post builds on the last. By the time you launch, you have months of content creating a narrative arc. The launch isn't the beginning of your marketing — it's the climax.
My TikTok Strategy for Building in Public
Here's exactly how I structure it, because theory without execution is useless:
The Hook Phase (Week 1-2): Tease the idea. "I'm about to do something crazy..." or "What if I told you one person could publish 13 books in a few months?" These generate curiosity. People follow because they want to see what happens.
The Build Phase (Ongoing): Daily or near-daily updates. Short, punchy clips showing progress. "Day 3: Just finished the outline for book number seven." Show the work. Show the screens. Show the coffee cups.
The Struggle Phase (When It Happens): Don't hide the hard parts. "Book nine is kicking my ass" gets more engagement than "Everything's going great!" Vulnerability isn't weakness — it's relatability.
The Win Phase (Milestones): Celebrate publicly. "THIRTEEN BOOKS DONE." Let your audience feel the victory with you. These are the posts that go viral because they have built-up emotional investment.
The Offer Phase (Launch): "It's here. Everything I've been building. Here's how to get it." By this point, your audience has been pre-sold through months of watching you create. The launch post isn't a cold pitch — it's a payoff.
The Numbers Don't Lie
My TikTok account (@tiktalktech) has 12.1K followers and over 1.3 million likes. More than 4.7 million total views. These numbers came primarily from building-in-public content. Not from trying to be an entertainer. Not from trend-chasing. From showing real work in progress.
The highest-performing content categories on my account are:
- Behind-the-scenes of my projects
- Lessons learned from failures
- Milestone celebrations
- Hot takes on tech and creator economy
Notice what's not on that list: polished, scripted, perfectly-edited brand content. The raw stuff outperforms the polished stuff every single time. People can smell authenticity, and they're starving for it.
What to Share (And What to Keep Private)
Building in public doesn't mean sharing everything. Here's my framework:
Always share:
- Progress updates and milestones
- Lessons learned and mistakes made
- Your decision-making process
- Results (good and bad)
- Tools and techniques you're using
Never share:
- Other people's private information
- Specific financial details you're not comfortable with
- Strategies so specific that competitors can directly copy them
- Content that could hurt future partnerships or deals
- Anything you'd regret in 5 years
The line is simple: share the process, protect the people. Your audience wants to see how the sausage is made. They don't need to meet everyone in the factory.
Start Today
Whatever you're building right now — an app, a business, a book, a brand — take out your phone and make a 30-second video about it. Post it. Do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.
You don't need a perfect setup. You don't need a ring light. You don't need a script. You need a phone and the willingness to show people what you're working on.
The creators who win in 2026 and beyond aren't the ones with the best products. They're the ones who brought their audience along for the ride.
Stop building in silence. The world wants to watch.