You shipped your product. You posted on Product Hunt. You got 47 upvotes and zero paying customers.

Now what?

Most indie hackers know how to build. They struggle with the other half: getting people to actually care.

The good news is you don't need a marketing degree or a $10k ad budget. You need a different approach to talking about what you're building.

Building in public on LinkedIn turns your development process into a marketing engine. Every feature you ship becomes content. Every customer conversation becomes a post. Every revenue milestone becomes social proof.

This is not about going viral. It's about turning strangers into followers, followers into users, and users into paying customers by showing your work publicly.

Here's how indie hackers are doing it.

Why LinkedIn Beats Twitter for Building in Public

Twitter popularized building in public. But for most indie hackers, LinkedIn converts better.

The difference comes down to three things: audience intent, content lifespan, and algorithmic reach.

Audience Intent

LinkedIn users have jobs and budgets. Twitter users have opinions and retweets.

If you're building a B2B SaaS tool, a productivity app, or anything professionals might pay for, your buyers are on LinkedIn. They're scrolling between meetings, looking for solutions to work problems, and they have corporate cards.

Twitter's audience skews younger, more technical, and less likely to pull out a credit card. Great for feedback. Harder for revenue.

Content Lifespan

A tweet dies in 45 minutes. A LinkedIn post can generate comments and views for 3-7 days.

This matters for indie hackers because you're not creating content full-time. You're building a product. When you finally carve out time to write an update, you want it to work for you longer than your lunch break.

LinkedIn's slower feed means your posts reach people in different time zones, on different days. One good post can drive sign-ups all week.

Algorithmic Reach

Twitter's algorithm prioritizes massive accounts. LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes engagement rate.

You don't need 50k followers to get reach on LinkedIn. A post with 20 comments from a 500-person network will outperform a post with 2 likes from a 5,000-person network.

For indie hackers starting from zero, this levels the playing field. Your first 100 followers can generate meaningful visibility if they actually engage with your content.

The Build-in-Public Content Framework

Most indie hackers overthink building in public. They think every post needs to be a case study with graphs and pivot tables.

Reality: the best build-in-public content is just narrating your work week.

Here's a simple framework that works across different stages of your journey.

The Work Log Post

Format: What you shipped this week + what you learned.

Example structure:

• Shipped: [Feature name and what it does]
• Why: [Problem it solves for users]
• Learned: [One non-obvious insight from building it]
• Next: [What you're tackling next week]

This post type works because it shows progress without requiring massive milestones. You can publish it every Friday even if you didn't hit product-market fit.

Keep it to 3-5 bullet points. No one wants to read a novel about your merge conflicts.

The Metric Milestone Post

Format: You hit a number. Here's what got you there.

Good numbers to share:

• First paying customer
• $1k MRR
• $10k MRR
• 100 users
• 1,000 users
• First enterprise deal

The key is breaking down what actually drove the metric. Not just "we hit 1k users," but "we hit 1k users by doing X, Y, Z."

People follow indie hackers for the playbook, not the celebration. Give them something they can steal.

The Customer Insight Post

Format: A user said something that changed your roadmap.

This is the most underused content type. Indie hackers talk to customers all day but never share those conversations publicly.

Example: "A customer just told me: 'I don't need more features. I need the three features I use to be twice as fast.'

That's the entire product roadmap for Q1."

These posts work because they reveal your decision-making process. Followers see how you think, which builds trust faster than any feature announcement.

The Mistake Post

Format: Here's what I screwed up and what I'd do differently.

Failure posts get more engagement than success posts because everyone's failing quietly. When you share yours publicly, people feel less alone.

Structure:

• What you tried
• Why it didn't work
• What you'd do instead
• The lesson you're taking forward

Avoid the performative vulnerability trap. Don't manufacture mistakes for content. Just share the real ones when they happen.

The Behind-the-Scenes Post

Format: Show how the sausage gets made.

This could be:

• Your tech stack and why you chose it
• A screenshot of messy Figma files
• Your actual daily schedule as a solo founder
• The tools you use to build + market
• A rejected design or feature you killed

The goal is to demystify indie hacking. Most people think you need a co-founder, funding, and a Stanford degree. Showing your scrappy reality makes it feel achievable.

Tools like Postiv can help you batch-create this type of content when you're in building mode and need to maintain consistency without context-switching every day.

How to Share Revenue Milestones Without Being Annoying

Revenue posts are the highest-leverage content you can publish. They get massive reach, establish credibility, and attract both customers and other builders.

But there's a fine line between helpful transparency and humble-bragging.

Here's how to stay on the right side.

Lead With the How, Not the What

Bad: "Just hit $5k MRR! Dreams do come true."

Good: "Hit $5k MRR. Here's the breakdown:

• $2k: Annual plans (converted from monthly)
• $2k: Referral program (launched 2 months ago)
• $1k: Enterprise tier (just added last week)"

The second version gives people a roadmap. The first version just makes them feel behind.

Share the Time It Took

Context matters. $10k MRR in 2 months hits different than $10k MRR in 2 years.

Include your timeline. It sets realistic expectations and makes your journey relatable.

"$1k MRR after 6 months. Took longer than I thought. First 3 months were $0 because I didn't have a pricing page. Month 4 I added one. Month 5 I got serious about LinkedIn. Month 6 broke $1k."

This honesty builds more trust than pretending you're an overnight success.

Break Down What's Working

Don't just share the number. Share the channels.

Example revenue attribution table:

This level of transparency is rare. That's exactly why it performs well.

Acknowledge What's Not Working

Every indie hacker has failed channels. Talk about yours.

"Hit $5k MRR last month. Worth noting: tried paid ads ($500 budget), got 2 clicks. Tried cold outreach (100 emails), got 1 reply. Everything came from posting on LinkedIn 3x/week and actually talking to users."

When you share what didn't work, people trust what did work.

Content Formats That Convert Followers Into Customers

Building in public gets you followers. Converting followers into customers requires different content.

Here's what works.

The Use Case Breakdown

Most indie hackers talk about features. Customers care about outcomes.

A use case post bridges that gap.

Format:

• Start with a specific person ("You're a freelance designer...")
• Describe their problem ("You waste 2 hours/week writing proposals...")
• Show how your product solves it ("Here's how [Product] cuts that to 15 minutes...")
• End with the transformation ("Now you can take on 2 more clients per month")

This works because it puts the reader in the story. They see themselves using your product before they click the link.

The Comparison Post

Format: [Your Product] vs [Established Alternative]

People searching for solutions are comparing options. Do the comparison for them.

Example: "Why we built [Product] instead of using Notion:

• Notion: $10/user/month, requires training
• [Product]: $5 flat, works like email
• Notion: 47 features, steep learning curve
• [Product]: 3 features, 5-minute setup"

This isn't about trashing competitors. It's about clearly defining where you fit in the market.

The Tutorial Post

Format: How to do [Outcome] using [Your Product]

Walk through a specific workflow step-by-step. Screenshots help but aren't required.

Example: "How to set up automated LinkedIn posts in under 10 minutes:

1. Connect your LinkedIn account
2. Write 5 posts in the editor
3. Pick your schedule (we recommend Mon/Wed/Fri at 9am)
4. Hit publish
5. Check analytics every Friday

That's it. You just bought back 3 hours per week."

Tutorial posts rank well in search, get saved for later, and convert readers who are actively looking for solutions.

For indie hackers juggling building and marketing, using a tool like Postiv to schedule these types of posts in batches means you can write once and distribute all week without logging into LinkedIn every day.

The Before/After Post

Format: Life before [Product] vs life after [Product]

This is a simplified case study. You don't need a customer's permission. Just paint the picture.

Before:

• Manual process taking 4 hours
• Lots of context-switching
• Inconsistent results

After:

• Automated in 20 minutes
• Set it and forget it
• Reliable output every time

The contrast makes the value obvious.

Building Your First 100 Followers

You can have perfect content and get zero traction if no one sees it.

Here's how to cold-start your LinkedIn audience as an indie hacker.

Step 1: Optimize Your Profile for Builders

Your headline should say what you're building.

Bad: "Software Engineer | Entrepreneur | Coffee Enthusiast"

Good: "Building [Product Name] – [One-Line Description] | Indie Hacker"

Example: "Building PostTracker – LinkedIn analytics for solopreneurs | Indie Hacker"

Your About section should follow this structure:

• What you're building
• Who it's for
• Why you're building it
• What you're sharing on LinkedIn (your content themes)

Keep it under 500 words. Link to your product.

Step 2: Connect With Other Indie Hackers

Search for these terms on LinkedIn:

• "indie hacker"
• "building in public"
• "solopreneur"
• "$XkMRR" (like $1k MRR, $10k MRR)
• "bootstrapped founder"

Find people sharing their journey. Connect with them. Comment on their posts.

When you comment, add value. Not "Great post!" but something like "The bit about pricing tiers hit home. We just killed our middle tier for the same reason."

Thoughtful comments get you noticed faster than posting into the void.

Step 3: Post Consistently for 30 Days

Three posts per week minimum. Monday, Wednesday, Friday works well.

Use the content framework above. Rotate between:

• Work log post (Friday)
• Customer insight post (Monday)
• Behind-the-scenes or mistake post (Wednesday)

Don't overthink it. Consistency beats perfection in the first month. You're training the algorithm and building a content habit.

Step 4: Engage for 15 Minutes After Posting

The first hour after you post determines your reach. LinkedIn prioritizes posts that get early engagement.

After you publish, spend 15 minutes:

• Replying to every comment
• Commenting on 3-5 posts from your network
• Checking notifications for engagement opportunities

This signals to LinkedIn that your post is worth showing to more people.

Step 5: Track What Works

After 30 days, look at your analytics:

• Which posts got the most impressions?
• Which posts got the most comments?
• Which posts drove the most profile views?

Double down on the formats that perform. Cut the ones that don't.

Most indie hackers post random thoughts and wonder why nothing lands. Treating content like product development – ship, measure, iterate – changes everything.

Common Mistakes Indie Hackers Make Building in Public

Building in public looks easy until you do it wrong. Here are the traps to avoid.

Mistake 1: Only Posting When You Hit Milestones

If you only post when something big happens, you post once every three months. That's not building in public. That's occasional bragging.

The magic happens in the boring middle. The bug you spent 6 hours fixing. The customer conversation that changed your pricing. The feature you killed after two weeks.

Consistent small updates beat sporadic big announcements.

Mistake 2: Sharing Metrics Without Context

"$500 MRR!"

Cool. What's your churn rate? Customer acquisition cost? Are you profitable or burning savings?

Metrics without context are meaningless. Worse, they can be misleading.

If you're going to share numbers, share the full picture. Your followers are smart. They'll respect the honesty more than the headline number.

Mistake 3: Copying Someone Else's Voice

A lot of indie hackers see someone like Pieter Levels or Nico and try to clone their style.

That works until it doesn't. Your audience can tell when you're performing.

Building in public means building as yourself. If you're not naturally funny, don't force humor. If you're technical and detailed, lean into that. If you're visual, use screenshots and demos.

Authenticity scales better than imitation.

Mistake 4: Making It All About You

Building in public isn't a personal diary.

Every post should answer: "Why does this matter to the reader?"

Bad: "Spent all weekend coding. So tired. Back at it tomorrow."

Good: "Spent all weekend rebuilding our auth system. Cut login time from 4 seconds to 0.8 seconds. Turns out our database queries were the bottleneck, not the frontend. Lesson: always profile before optimizing."

The second version teaches something. The first version is just noise.

Mistake 5: Stopping When It Doesn't Work Immediately

Building in public is a slow burn. You're not going viral on day 3.

Most indie hackers quit after two weeks because they're not getting thousands of views. They don't realize that 50 engaged followers who actually care about your product beat 5,000 passive scrollers.

Give it 90 days. Post 3x per week. Engage consistently. Then evaluate.

If you're struggling with consistency, tools like Postiv can help by letting you batch-write posts when you're in the zone and auto-publish them throughout the week, so you don't break your streak when you're deep in a coding session.

How to Build in Public Without Burning Out

Building in public adds another layer to an already full plate. You're coding, talking to users, fixing bugs, and now you're supposed to be a content creator too?

Here's how to make it sustainable.

Batch Your Content

Don't write posts on the day you publish them. You'll skip posts every time a production bug hits.

Instead, block 2 hours once a week to write 3 posts. Schedule them in advance.

Every Sunday, I sit down with coffee and draft:

• Monday: Customer insight from last week's support tickets
• Wednesday: What I shipped and what I learned
• Friday: Metric update or behind-the-scenes

Then I schedule them and forget about it. The rest of the week, I just engage with comments.

Repurpose Everything

One customer call can become:

• A LinkedIn post about the insight
• A feature update based on their feedback
• A use case example in your onboarding
• A testimonial request if they loved it

You're already having these conversations. Treat them as content raw material.

Same with product updates. The changelog entry you wrote for users becomes a LinkedIn post with two extra sentences of context.

Don't create content from scratch. Document what you're already doing.

Set Boundaries on Engagement

You don't need to reply to every comment immediately. You don't need to be online all day.

My rule: I check LinkedIn twice a day. 9am (after my first deep work block) and 4pm (before I shut down for the day).

I reply to comments, engage with 5-10 posts, and close the tab. That's it.

Building in public doesn't mean being public 24/7.

Track ROI, Not Vanity Metrics

The goal isn't followers. It's customers.

Every month, ask:

• How many inbound sign-ups came from LinkedIn?
• How many current customers discovered us through our content?
• What's the LTV of customers who came from LinkedIn vs other channels?

If you're getting 10k impressions but zero sign-ups, something's broken. Fix the content or fix the call-to-action.

If you're getting 500 impressions but 5 sign-ups every week, you're doing it right. Double down.

Take Breaks When You Need Them

Some weeks you'll be heads-down shipping a big feature. That's fine.

Post less. Go from 3x/week to 1x/week. Your audience won't abandon you.

What matters is showing up over months, not maintaining a perfect streak. Building in public is a marathon, not a sprint.

If you miss a week, just pick back up the next Monday. No apology post needed. Just keep going.

The Bottom Line

Indie hacker marketing isn't about going viral or having a massive audience. It's about building trust with the people who could actually use what you're making.

Building in public on LinkedIn works because it turns your product journey into content that attracts the right people – buyers, not just browsers.

The framework is simple:

• Post consistently about what you're building, learning, and shipping
• Share revenue milestones with full context and attribution
• Convert followers into customers with use cases, tutorials, and comparisons
• Build your first 100 followers by engaging with other indie hackers
• Avoid the common traps: sporadic posting, copying others, and treating it like a diary

You don't need a marketing team or a big budget. You need to show your work publicly and document what you're learning along the way.

Start with three posts a week. Work log on Friday. Customer insight on Monday. Behind-the-scenes on Wednesday. Do that for 90 days and measure what happens.

If you're looking for a way to stay consistent without spending hours on LinkedIn every day, check out how to write LinkedIn posts or learn more about building a personal brand as a founder. And if batching and scheduling posts sounds better than logging in daily, that's exactly what we built Postiv for.

Now go ship something and tell people about it.