Build in Public Ideas: 30 Post Ideas Founders Can Use This Month

Most lists of build in public ideas tell you to share your story. That is a category, not an idea. Below are 30 specific posts, sorted by what you have to share this week. Each has a short example and my rating of how many replies that shape tends to get. The evidence behind the ratings comes after the list.

What should you share when you build in public?

Share what changed this week and give readers a way to join in. A post about your work is only worth following if it has a real detail (a number, a quote, a choice) and a reason to reply.

Start from your week, not from a topic. Every week fits at least one of eight situations: you shipped, you did not ship, a number moved, you made a mistake, you made a decision, you talked to a customer, you hit a milestone, or you just have a question. Find yours in the list below and pick an idea from that group.

This page is about what to post. Which post formats win for founders building in public is covered in how to build in public on X. If you wonder whether it pays off at all, building in public brought me opportunities I no longer needed is the honest version.

How to read the ratings: the reply rating is my own call on each broad shape. I based it on which shapes were most common among my best posts. I did not measure it for these 30 example posts. “High” marks shapes that ask for a short answer (votes, word limits, connect calls and specific questions), plus first-time milestones people want to congratulate. “Medium” marks updates and stories with a real number. “Low” marks advice and cost breakdowns. Low on replies does not mean low value. Those posts often earn saves, trust and the odd customer, which a reply count does not show.

30 build in public ideas, by what you have this week

The examples are made up, written in a short founder voice to show the shape. They are not real user posts. Swap in your own numbers and words before you post anything.

If you need more topics than these 30, the 50 post ideas for founders are sorted by proof, customer insight and product decisions. Use this page to pick the shape. Use that one to find more topics.

Build in public examples from my own account

Four real posts, one from each of the strongest groups, with their numbers. All four are short. Each gives readers something to do: congratulate, pitch, cheer or learn from a failure. The first two are shown in full.

Two lines, one real number, the time it took and where I started. The full story behind it is in 81 days to my first X payout. The post itself did not need any of it.

The word limit does the work. The reader can answer in three seconds. Every answer is a tiny pitch they want others to see. How word limits did across my account is in how to get more replies on X.

The other two were a number that moved and a mistake. “ClimbX just crossed $1,000 MRR 🤯 50 days since launch. Still feels surreal.” got 135 replies, 241 likes and 7,969 impressions (see it on X). My post shutting down SEOLint, my first X-launched startup, at 0 MRR and 0 revenue ever got 93 replies, 144 likes and 5,383 impressions (see it on X). The shutdown post reached fewer people than the MRR post. But it got the same rate of replies, about 17 per 1,000 views. Founders who had shut something down wanted to say so.

Which build in public posts get the most replies?

Posts that ask the reader for a quick, easy answer: community calls, quick-reply hooks and questions. On my account they were also the most common shapes among my furthest-reaching posts. Posts that give advice were rare among them.

I took my top 500 and bottom 200 original posts by reach (lift against my own median). I labeled them automatically, then compared how often each label showed up in each group. A win ratio of 4.1 means that label was 4.1 times more common among my best posts than among my worst.

A study of 500 outlier posts from 181 creators pointed the same way for accounts under 25,000 followers. The replies-per-view breakdown is in how to get more replies on X. Remember your goal, though. This chart measures reach, not trust. A detailed cost breakdown or a long post-mortem can rank low here. It can still be the post that makes a reader trust you enough to buy.

How do you build in public without sounding like an ad?

Talk about what happened, not about the product. On my account, posts that mentioned my own product had a win ratio of 0.40. They were less than half as common among my best posts as among my worst.

• Sounds like an ad

  ClimbX now has a new scheduling view that makes planning your week easier. Start your 7-day trial today!

• Sounds like a founder

  spent a week rebuilding one screen.

  3 users said the old one made them feel behind.

  would you have shipped it or waited?

The second version keeps the product out of the first line. It shares the reason and the real feedback. It ends with a question readers can answer without knowing the product at all.

Let readers find the product on your profile, after they decide they like how you think. Two more results from the same label study: an audience-name opener like “Founders,” had a win ratio of 4.0, and posts of 26 words or more had 0.5. Do not treat that length result as a rule. Across 782 ClimbX accounts under 5,000 followers (last 180 days), posts of 46+ words reached 1.16x their author’s median, slightly better than short ones. Name who it is for, and test length against your own median.

How often should you post build in public updates?

One real update a week is enough to give people a story to follow. Fill the other days with questions, observations and replies. Use the highest-reply shapes rarely, so they stay fresh.

A simple week: 1 to 2 posts where a number moved or you hit a milestone. That is the story people follow you for. 2 to 3 questions, decisions or quiet-week ideas, which get the most replies for the effort. 1 mistake or customer quote, to show you are honest. Community calls at most 1 in 5 posts. They reach furthest, but they ask more than they give.

A winner works once. Repeat the shape, not the post. Repeated winners on my account lost much of their first reach. The numbers behind that are in what is considered viral on Twitter. Use the same idea with a new number, a new audience or a new question instead. To post every week without it eating your day, see how to stay consistent posting on X. ClimbX can also give you a few drafts each day in your own voice, shaped like posts that worked for founders slightly ahead of you. You edit every one, so the week’s real details stay yours.

How these numbers were measured

The label study ranks my original posts on @DanielSmidstrup by lift: a post’s impressions divided by my own median. The win ratio is a label’s share of my top 500 posts divided by its share of my bottom 200. Labels were tagged automatically. I read the reply and impression counts on the four real posts on October 3, 2026. The length comparison is an anonymized total of 52,706 original posts from 782 ClimbX accounts under 5,000 followers with 10+ posts each, last 180 days, my account excluded. The 30 example posts are made up, and their ratings are my own call.

Common questions