Building in Public: 7 SaaS Founders to Follow (Examples)

The #buildinpublic movement is everywhere right now - with everything from scrappy indie hackers on solo ventures, to VC-backed founders, transparently sharing their journeys for the world to see - and engage with.

"Build in public" is a strategy where founders, developers, or creators share their process of creating a SaaS with the public - typically through social media like Youtube, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

This approach allows creators to engage with their audience, get feedback, generate demand, and build a community around their project - before even launching it.

There are a ton of ways to share what you build - for the world to see it and your SaaS to grow.

It's important that you put out content that (1) feels authentic, (2) resonate with your ICP (ideal customer profile), and that you (3) stay consistent.

Tip: Don't focus on the numbers. Focus on the process. For example, set a target of number of posts per week to post on LI. 🎯

For more: check out my post "10 ways how to build in public to copy" with real examples and screenshots.

Here are 7 top founders to learn from:

Growing Retention.com to $14M ARR with only 6 employees. Sharing ups and downs + his playbook on using founder brand, content and LinkedIn to grow.

Active on social media: LinkedIn, Youtube

Type of content: Video, LinkedIn text-only posts

Messaging: "Traditional outbound is broken - how to scale highly efficient lean SaaS companies"

Bootstrapped: Yes

Bootstrapped micro SaaS founder building in public with 6 micro SaaS companies in the portfolio. Sharing his learnings and life as a talented solo entrepreneur, located in Bali.

Active on social media: Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn

Type of content: Video, how-to stories, actionable tips

Messaging: "Transparent learnings of a solo founder building a portfolio of micro SaaS"

Bootstrapped: Yes

Growing Lemlist & Lempire, from $0 to $20M ARR in 5 years bootstrapped. Sharing tips on how to grow a profitable SaaS business w/o VC.

Active on social media: Youtube, LinkedIn, Instagram

Type of content: Video, Short-form video, text-based LinkedIn posts

Messaging: "How to grow profitable SaaS companies w/o VC"

Bootstrapped: Yes

Building a portfolio of bootstrapped SaaS + running YouTube as a business. Sharing helpful insights around building an automated business from the ground up - using no-code and AI.

Active on social media: Youtube, LinkedIn, TikTok

Type of content: Video, Short-form video, how-to-guides

Messaging: "How to build a portfolio of bootstrapped SaaS products"

Bootstrapped: Yes

Former Stanford MBA / Goldman Sachs Banker. Quite recently grew his SaaS for creators Stan past $5M ARR. Sharing a daily journal building a venture-backed towards $1B in Silicon Valley.

Active on social media: TikTok, Youtube

Type of content: Video, Short-form video, day-in-the-life, dealing with investors

Messaging: "Life of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur building with VC funding"

Bootstrapped: No, VC-backed

Active on social media: LinkedIn, Youtube, TikTok

Type of content: Video, Short-form video, how-to

Messaging: "Growing a SaaS from 0 to $5M ARR using content."

Bootstrapped: No, VC-backed

Active on social media: LinkedIn, Youtube

Type of content: Video, Podcast, Books

Messaging: "Grow a B2B SaaS with minimal capital injection and become your own boss"

Bootstrapped: Yes, minimal investment raised (see TinySeed)

Building in public is transparent. Thus, it builds trust, and can attract potential customers and partners by sharing the journey in real time - both with fails and wins.

"Build in public" also helps quickly validating ideas and refine them based on direct user input - which leads to more user-centered products.

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