What to post when you're building in public and nothing new happened

When nothing new happened, post about the work instead of the news. A number you looked at, a mistake you made, a decision you took, a question someone asked you: every week of building has those, even when there's nothing to announce.

Below are ten kinds of posts that come from ordinary weeks, an example of each, and a five-minute way to pick one.

Why quiet weeks are worth posting

People who follow a build in public aren't there only for launches. They're there for how you think: what you tried, what you'd avoid, how you decide. Quiet weeks are where most of that happens. They're also where you can post most consistently, because you don't need anything to go right first.

Ten posts you can write from an ordinary week

The examples are written for this article.

1. The number post

One number you looked at this week, and what it told you.

14 people signed up this week. 9 came from one reply I left on someone else's post, not from anything I posted myself.

2. The mistake post

Something you got wrong, what it cost, what you changed.

Spent two days on a feature nobody asked for. The fix wasn't working faster, it was asking three users first. Took ten minutes.

3. The decision post

A choice you made and why you didn't pick the alternative.

We're not adding a free plan yet. Every free user we had asked for support, and none of them upgraded. Trial first, then decide.

4. The before and after

A screenshot of something you improved, side by side.

Old onboarding: 6 screens. New: 2. Same information, just asked at the moment it's needed.

5. The real question

A question a user, customer or friend actually asked you, and your answer.

Someone asked why we don't post automatically. Because the one time a tool posted for me without asking, it was the wrong account.

6. The tool or process post

How you do one recurring task.

How I plan a week of posts in 20 minutes: read last week's top two, write down every question from the replies, turn each into a post.

7. The "what I'd do differently" post

A lesson from something older, looked at again.

If I started again I'd write the docs before the code. Half our bugs were features I couldn't explain in one sentence.

8. The opinion

A view on your field that you'd defend.

Most analytics dashboards measure what's easy to count, not what tells you if a post worked.

9. The behind-the-scenes

What a normal day of work actually looks like.

Today: 3 hours on a bug that turned out to be a timezone. 20 minutes on the thing I planned to do.

10. The weekly recap

Three bullet points: what shipped, what didn't, what's next. Short is fine.

This week: shipped comments in the dashboard. Didn't ship: the importer. Next: the importer, for real.

Picking one in five minutes

1. Open last week's notes, commits, messages or calendar. Not your feed.
2. Write down five things that happened, however small.
3. Match each to a type above. A fixed bug is a mistake post or a behind-the-scenes. A user email is a real question.
4. Pick the one you could explain to a friend in one sentence. That sentence is your first line.
5. Write it plainly. Specific beats clever. A real number beats an adjective.

Rules that keep it from getting stale

• Rotate the types. A recap every week turns into wallpaper. Mix in a mistake, a decision and a question.
• One idea per post. If you have two, that's two posts.
• Lead with the specific thing, not with "Building in public update #12".
• Answer the replies. The questions people ask under a quiet-week post are next week's posts.
• Keep the numbers honest. Small numbers are fine. Made-up or rounded-up ones aren't, and people can tell.

Which ones work best?

That depends on your audience, so measure it. Tag each post with its type, check each one 24 hours after posting, and compare it to your own median. After a month you'll see which types your followers respond to. I wrote up how to read those numbers and how to compare posts fairly.

FAQ

What should I post when building in public?

Post about the work, not only the news: a number you checked, a mistake, a decision, a before and after, a question someone asked, how you do a task, or a short weekly recap. Ordinary weeks have all of these.

How often should I post when building in public?

Often enough to be consistent and not so often that the quality drops. Three to five posts a week works for many solo founders; one good post a week beats five filler ones.

Is it okay to share small numbers?

Yes. Small, real numbers are more interesting than vague claims, and they let people follow the progress. Just don't round them up.

What if I'm worried about competitors copying me?

Share how you think and what you learned rather than every detail of what's next. The decisions and lessons are what followers value most, and they're hard to copy without the context.