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by al_borland 641 days ago
To me, it always seemed like the "build in public" folks were doing it more for themselves. A way to not feel so alone on the journey, while ultimately working alone. If it helped with marketing and launch, that would be a bonus.
2 comments
crabmusket 640 days ago
This is my read too. People refer to it as a "community". There's an emotional attachment to being an "indie hacker" that goes beyond "this is a marketing strategy". Of course, as the existence of the community becomes more valuable as a marketing channel, that may shift, and maybe the OP is noticing that it already has shifted?
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readthenotes1 641 days ago
Attention seeking activity... I guess it's one form of marketing, but if the attention is on the builder, probably not
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zaptrem 641 days ago
Building something big alone is really tough and demoralizing. If this is a way they can mitigate that until they can find others to join them, more power to them. However, I've also heard of the dangers of oversharing early and losing the incentive to finish the project because you already got the attention dopamine hit.
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RevEng 640 days ago
Plenty of stupidly successful and wealthy people have risen up by getting people to pay attention to them. Jobs, Bankman-Freid, Musk, and so many others found their success largely on cultivating their public image moreso than on their products.
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al_borland 640 days ago
There does need to be a good product to back them up for long term success. That's where Bankman-Freid failed. Jobs was successful, and the products/company he created have outlived him and his image.
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kelnos 640 days ago
That's one of the things I still find impressive about Steve Jobs and his legacy. While Apple isn't the same company as it was when Jobs was alive, it's still a wildly-successful, innovative company. They still do "unheard-of" things, like designing and building their own SoCs and taking a stab into product categories like Vision Pro (regardless of whether or not it ends up being successful).

I think a lot of people (myself included, to some extent) thought Apple would lose its way (again) after Jobs died. It's a testament to the company he (re-)built and the culture and mindset he curated that it's still doing well.

Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, built a whole lot of nothing, and had no integrity.

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