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Building in public content lacks real outcomes and results, reducing engagement

Builders post process updates, code snippets, or motivational quotes without showing tangible results or milestones, making the content unengaging since audiences want proof of success rather than journey narration.

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FL score

62

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

medium confidence

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An article identifying that build-in-public content lacks concrete outcomes, but the idea itself needs proof that founders actually want to fix this.

The pain

Founders posting updates get engagement from cheerleaders but not from people trying to learn. New founders scroll through motivational process posts and can't extract what actually worked or failed. This wastes their time and makes BIP feel like performative content rather than a learning tool.

The gap

The observation is accurate, most BIP posts are present-tense or future-focused. But there's no evidence that: (1) founders know this is the problem, (2) they'd change their behavior if shown, or (3) there's a business model here beyond writing an article.

Build angle

If building: Create a template or framework that forces founders to include past results, specific mistakes, and measurable outcomes. Distribute it as a free tool, then charge for analytics showing which BIP posts actually drive followers/customers. Or build a feed that surfaces only outcome-focused posts, filtering out motivation-only content.

Strengths

  • Observation is grounded in real behavior, easy to verify by sampling 50 BIP posts
  • Targets an audience (founders) that has money and attention
  • Addresses a real friction point in how people consume startup content
  • Could tie to existing platforms (Twitter, Substack, LinkedIn) without building from scratch

Risks

  • This is a content critique, not a business idea yet. An article doesn't solve the problem, it just names it
  • Founders may not care about this gap. They post for motivation/brand, not to teach. Changing that requires behavior change, which is hard
  • No clear monetization path. Who pays and how much?
  • Existing platforms (Twitter, Substack) could add this feature themselves, making any standalone tool obsolete
  • The audience (new founders) has low purchasing power. The audience with money (investors) may not want outcome-focused BIP, they like the narrative

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